The Defense Minister of Bulgaria Todor Tagarev informed that the armoured personnel carriers (APCs) promised to Ukraine will leave the country "in a few days." Their delivery was delayed.
The minister said this on the bTV channel.
"APCs for Ukraine is still in Sofia. They will leave in a few days, but I wonʼt say the date," he noted.
Tagarev clarified that there are also S-300 systems that are delivered faster than armored personnel carriers.
Currently, Bulgarian aid to Ukraine amounts to €47 million. Bulgaria is preparing another package of military aid for Kyiv.
What a story with an armored personnel carrier from Bulgaria
The Bulgarian government approved the project to transfer armored personnel carriers to Ukraine in August 2023. And on November 22, the Bulgarian parliament finally approved the agreement on the transfer of 100 decommissioned armored personnel carriers.
On December 4, 2023, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev vetoed the free transfer of almost 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. It was possible to overcome the veto already on December 8, 2023. 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.
- 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, 2022, 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 supplies.
- 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.