Bulgaria's president still against sending weapons to Ukraine

Bulgaria and Ukraine have agreed to intensify the defense cooperation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday during his unannounced visit to Sofia. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev underlined that he was not supportive of weapon deliveries to Ukraine, nor the weakening of his own country's defenses.

Szófia, 2023. július 6. Nikolaj Denkov bolgár kormányfõ (j) és Volodimir Zelenszkij ukrán elnök közös sajtóértekezletet tart Szófiában 2023. július 6-án. MTI/EPA/Vaszil Donev Fotó: Vaszil Donev

– We discussed the military support that Bulgaria is providing to our country. We are counting on cooperation, which has already saved many lives," the Ukrainian president told a press briefing held together with Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov. Mr Zelensky also thanked his Bulgarian hosts for all the assistance they had provided to Kyiv. 

Shortly before his talks in Sofia, President Zelensky said the agenda for the talks included next week NATO summit in Vilnius. Ahead of the press conference, the two leaders signed a memorandum on energy cooperation. 

Together we stand ready to provide greater energy security for our countries at affordable prices for ordinary people,

– Mr Zelensky said. The Ukrainian president also stressed that he invited Bulgaria to participate in the reconstruction of Ukraine, especially in the education sector. He added that Bulgaria was also ready to assist in the fields of environment protection and digitalization.

Zelensky arrived on a working visit to Bulgaria.

During the visit, the President of Ukraine met with Prime Minister of Bulgaria Nikolai Denkov.

Tomorrow Zelensky will arrive in Turkey at the invitation of Erdogan, Turkish TV reports. pic.twitter.com/0iObA8fQDV

— Spriter Team (@SpriterTeam) July 6, 2023

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev stressed that there was no military solution to the conflict in Ukraine, and that more emphasis should be placed on peace-building.

I disagree with the idea of supplying military equipment to Kyiv, especially from the Bulgarian army reserves. As Commander-in-Chief of the army, I have a responsibility not to weaken the combat readiness of my country. I continue to believe that there's no military solution to this conflict, and that more and more weapons will hardly lead to one. Besides, we'd like to hear the word peace more often. The main efforts should be focused on achieving peace and, at the moment, I think we are not depleting all our diplomatic means to do that.

– Mr Radev emphasized. 

Commenting on President Zelensky's visit to Bulgaria, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this only shows that Kyiv wants to drag as many states as possible into the conflict. He stressed that such talks will not make any real difference to the outcome of the Russia's military operation in Ukraine, as evidenced by the current situation on the front line.

Cover photo: Bulgarian PM Nikolay Denkov (r) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky holding a joint press conference in Sofia, on 6 July, 2023 (Photo: MTI/EPA/Vaszil Donev)