Last spring, the Bulgarian government provided up to a third of the ammunition needs of the Ukrainian army. At the same time, due to internal political disagreements, the shells were transferred secretly.
Die Welt writes about it.
According to the investigation, then-Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kyril Petkov faced strong resistance from pro-Kremlin politicians on the issue of Ukraine and even fired his defense minister because he was repeating the Russian version of the war. Publicly, Petkov tried to avoid statements about his readiness to supply weapons.
"According to our estimates, about a third of the ammunition needed by the Ukrainian army in the early stages of the war came from Bulgaria," Petkov told Welt.
In addition, Bulgaria has become one of the largest exporters of diesel fuel to Ukraine. According to former finance minister Asen Vasiliev, in a certain period it covered 40% of Ukraineʼs needs. It is equally important that the diesel fuel that Bulgaria supplies to Ukraine was processed from Russian crude oil at the Black Sea Refinery, which at that time belonged to the Russian company Lukoil.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, confirmed to the newspaper that in April of last year, Ukraine was threatened with a shortage of ammunition. "We knew that there was a large amount of necessary ammunition in Bulgarian warehouses, so President Volodymyr Zelensky sent me to get the necessary materials," he said. Kuleba emphasized that it was not about the Bulgarian government providing military aid to Ukraine directly "but rather about Ukrainian companies and companies from NATO countries being able to purchase what they need from Bulgarian suppliers." According to information provided by Welt, the supply was paid for by the United States and Great Britain.
- In early November 2022, the Bulgarian parliament voted to send heavy weapons to Ukraine.
- On May 4, 2022, the Bulgarian parliament allowed the repair of Ukrainian military equipment at defense enterprises but refused to provide Ukraine with weapons and ammunition. 200 deputies, including those from the pro-Russian BSP party, voted for this decision.