Bulgarian MP: Bulgaria can send 100 armored vehicles to Ukraine

Bulgaria could provide 100 armored vehicles from the storage of the Interior Ministry, member of the parliament Ivaylo Mirchev said on July 13, as cited by Euronews Bulgaria.

The armored personnel carriers were produced in the 1960s and 1970s and were purchased by Bulgarian internal security forces but are not currently used, Mirchev explained.

He added that Bulgaria has to pay high sums for the storage and maintenance of these vehicles.

Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, the ministers of defense and interior, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Defense Hristo Gadzhev, and the leader of the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) Boyko Borisov are involved in the implementation of the proposed initiative, Mirchev said.

The deputy expressed hope that Bulgaria could benefit from U.S. aid in exchange for providing Soviet-era equipment to Ukraine.

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Following a bilateral meeting in Sofia on July 6, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov signed a joint declaration on Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration.

The Kyiv IndependentDinara Khalilova

Bulgaria's President Rumen Radev has consistently opposed providing Ukraine with large-scale defense assistance. He has been accused of having a pro-Moscow stance and called Crimea "Russian" during a 2021 presidential debate.

After the Bulgarian parliament approved arms supplies to Kyiv in December last year, the interim cabinet provided the first package of military aid, but further aid was reportedly blocked by Radev.

However, the new government, which was formed in early June under Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, appears to be taking active steps to help Ukraine repel Russian aggression.

The new cabinet announced its second military aid package for Ukraine on June 27 without specifying its content. On June 15, Bulgarian Defense Minister Todor Tagarev told Politico that Sofia wanted to join the European Union's initiative to supply Ukraine with one million artillery shells.