After an audit of its military warehouses, Bulgaria found surplus ammunition and is ready to offer it to Ukraine, but wants monetary compensation for it, Babel informs.
This was announced by Bulgaria’s Acting Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov, BNR reports.
He made it clear that the shells can be handed over to Ukraine only if the allies compensate them – under an agreement similar to the one that was in place for the transfer of the previous two announced military aid packages.
Some of this property – some ammunition of certain types – can be provided to Ukraine. This package will also be linked to an agreement with an ally country on compensation, similar to the previous package we sent, – he said.
However, Zapryanov did not specify what kind of ammunition it was – for artillery or other weapons. He described them as ammunition of “certain types”. He also did not mention their quantity.
Zapryanov noted that the Bulgarian government still has to make a decision and then coordinate actions and logistics with its allies and Ukraine.
Bulgaria has been helping Ukraine with weapons since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, but mostly in private.
In October 2022, EurActiv wrote that Bulgaria was one of the largest non-public arms suppliers to Ukraine. In January 2023, the German newspaper Die Welt wrote that at the beginning of the war, Bulgaria secretly provided Ukraine with a third of its ammunition and 40% of its diesel fuel. At the same time, due to internal political disagreements, the shells were transferred secretly. Officially, Bulgaria handed over two packages of military aid to Ukraine.
