The Parliament of Bulgaria overcame the veto on the transfer of about 100 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine

The National Assembly of Bulgaria voted to overcome the veto of Bulgarian President Rumen Radev regarding the supply of 100 old armored personnel carriers to Ukraine.

The Sofia Globe writes about it.

The proposal to cancel the presidential veto was approved by 161 votes, 55 deputies were against. The session of the Bulgarian Parliament was interrupted twice.

Also, the majority of the Bulgarian parliament supported the provision of additional military aid to Ukraine and the possibility of using Bulgarian airspace for training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

Additional military aid involves the provision by Bulgaria to Ukraine of faulty, obsolete and surplus missiles for air defense.

This resolution also talks about allowing Ukrainian infantry or mechanized companies of up to 160 soldiers per year to transit or stay in Bulgaria for training.

• On December 4, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev vetoed the free transfer of about 100 armored personnel carriers from the stocks of the Bulgarian Ministry of Internal Affairs to Ukraine. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has never used them, and has been paying for their maintenance and storage for the past 25 years. According to him, the deputies who approved the agreement "were not sufficiently familiar with the specific parameters of the donation", and the outdated equipment intended for Kyiv is needed by the Bulgarian police, border guards and rescuers.
• The project on the transfer of armored personnel carriers to Ukraine was approved back in August. And on November 22 , the Bulgarian parliament finally approved the agreement on the transfer of 100 decommissioned armored personnel carriers.
• At the beginning of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Bulgaria officially refused to provide weapons to Ukraine. But on November 3, 2022, the parliament approved the provision of military support to Kyiv. On December 23, Bulgaria announced the beginning of the transfer of military and military-technical assistance to Ukraine.
• On January 20, 2023, Die Welt published an investigation, according to which Bulgaria actively supported Ukraine with ammunition and diesel fuel in the first months of the full-scale war, although it was publicly opposed to the supply.
• In October 2022, the publication EurActiv wrote that Bulgaria is one of the largest non-public suppliers of weapons to Ukraine. Bulgaria officially handed over two packages of military aid to Ukraine.