Bulgaria refused to send weapons to Ukraine, incl heavy weapons

SOFIA ($1=1.99 Bulgarian Levs) — Bulgaria has again refused to supply ammunition, small arms, or heavy weapons to Ukraine. The request was made by the Ukrainian ambassador to Bulgaria Vitaly Moskalenko. Acting Minister of Defense Dimitar Stoyanov stated that Bulgaria will continue to provide military-technical assistance to Ukraine, but not the supply of weapons.

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This is another refusal of the Bulgarian government to supply weapons to Ukraine. The last working parliament of Bulgaria decided not to supply weapons to Ukraine, but to help with humanitarian activities. Bulgaria has several military repair plants on its territory of the country. “As long as I am a minister, weapons will not be provided,” said Dimitar Stoyanov.

However, the Bulgarian Acting Minister of Defense did not specify exactly what weapon the Ukrainian ambassador requested. According to an OffNews publication, Vitaly Moskalenko made a request for heavy armament.

Bulgaria has 250 T-72 tanks in storage and an additional 160 in active combat service. The Bulgarian army also operates 100 units of BMP-23/30, 100 BMP-1P, 150 BTR-60PB, and 100 MT-LB / MT-LBu. Bulgaria has S-300 air defense systems, SS-21 Scarab-A tactical ballistic missiles, at least 500 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers, and various towed or self-propelled artillery.

Dimitar Stoyanov stated that the situation in the Black Sea is continuously monitored and the lines of communication are secured. For the moment, according to Stoyanov, “there is no direct threat of involving Bulgaria directly in the military conflict, but there are risks to national security.”

According to the Acting Minister of Defense, Bulgarian citizens with Russian passports can be called up for “Russian” mobilization, which continues in Russia.

Bulgarian weapons in Ukraine

Although Bulgaria does not officially supply weapons to Ukraine, there are some. In the war between Ukraine and Russia, which began on February 24, there is evidence of Bulgarian grenade launchers, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, and mortars have been delivered.

Most likely, the export took place through third state. I.e. Bulgaria sells weapons to a third state, and it donates them to Ukraine. In this way, the Bulgarian policy of not donating weapons to Ukraine has been preserved, since the final user of the weapons is the third state. The responsibility in this case falls on the third state.

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