Bulgaria will not grant Ukraine new financial aid for arms purchases and is stopping the supply of weapons and ammunition from its army stocks. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev announced this on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Dublin, the news agency Ukrinform reports, citing the Bulgarian news agency BTA.
“We will no longer supply weapons and ammunition from the stocks of the Bulgarian army,” said Radev. As justification, he pointed out that his country is subject to the EU procedure for an excessive deficit and has problems with its financial reserves. However, Sofia does not want to prevent other EU states from supporting Ukraine financially.
Instead of arms purchases, according to Radev, Bulgaria wants to discuss mechanisms through which possible contributions from the country would be directed to humanitarian needs, electricity supply and medical aid. Should Sofia participate in financial guarantees, he will insist that the funds benefit the Bulgarian community directly in several regions of Ukraine.
Exports by Bulgarian arms manufacturers, which had been very high in 2022 and 2023, are now declining, said Radev. He links this to the changed character of the war: after the initially enormous demand for Bulgarian ammunition, the need for drones is now growing. The Bulgarian government had already announced that it would no longer finance lethal weapons for Ukraine through the European Peace Facility and would support only non-lethal aid, as Ukrinform reports.
