The Bulgarian Parliament adopted a declaration that the Bulgarian Armed Forces will not participate in military operations on the territory of Ukraine.
This is reported by the local service of Radio Liberty.
The declaration was supported by 204 MPs. It was submitted for consideration after discussions by the UK, the US and European Union countries that the presence of European military forces could be a guarantee of security for Ukraine if Kyiv and Moscow sign a peace agreement.
Washington sent NATO allies questions about their plans and ideas for Ukraineʼs security after the war. At that time, President Rumen Radev opposed sending Bulgarian troops to Ukraine. Defense Minister Atanas Zaprianov and Foreign Minister Georgy Georgiev agreed with him.
The declaration approved by the deputies also states that Bulgaria calls for "the establishment of a lasting and just peace in Ukraine" and that "all interested parties", including Sofia, should participate in the negotiations.
The authors of the declaration from the ruling coalition noted that the purpose of the document is to "reassure" their citizens.
Europeʼs participation in the settlement of the war in Ukraine
After the US President Donald Trump reported that during a phone call with Putin they agreed to immediately begin peace talks, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Poland, Germany, and the European Union stressed in a statement that Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations to end the Russian-Ukrainian war.
At the Munich Security Conference, Trumpʼs special envoy Keith Kellogg said that Europe would not be physically at the negotiating table between Russia and Ukraine, but its interests would be taken into account. He added that one of the reasons why previous peace talks failed was that they involved too many countries.
The Axios publication, which revealed the details of the conversation between Zelensky and Trump, noted that the US president supported the idea of deploying European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine — this could become one of the security guarantees.
After that, the AP wrote that a group of European countries were privately working on a plan to send troops to Ukraine to help with post-war security.
The FT noted that the US has asked European countries to submit detailed proposals for the weapons, peacekeeping troops and security measures they could provide to Ukraine as part of any security guarantees. The United States wants to gauge Europe’s willingness to defend Ukraine after a peaceful settlement and to determine the price Europe is willing to pay in exchange for participating in negotiations with Moscow. In return, the US is asking what Europe wants from Washington in return.
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