Bulgaria preparing new tranche of military aid for Ukraine

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) — Bulgaria is preparing a new tranche of military aid for Ukraine, local media reported on Thursday.

The content of the aid will be determined by both Bulgaria's capabilities and Ukraine's needs, the country's Defense Minister Todor Tagarev said in a joint meeting of parliamentary committees on defense and foreign policy, according to state-run news agency BTA.

Tagarev said this tranche would be "comparable" in volume and type to an initial package sent following a parliamentary decision in December.

"There are things that are repeated, there are new ones, but in terms of volume, it is more or less the same," he said, adding that there was currently no discussion about providing basic combat platforms.

Tagarev also said Bulgaria will soon join an agreement on providing 1 million artillery rounds to Ukraine.

On a recent statement by President Rumen Radev that joining the European initiative would be a mistake for Sofia, he added: "I do not understand very well the logic of this argument, because in this case, we're talking about investments, European funds, in expanding the capacity and modernizing our defense industry."

Tagarev finally confirmed that Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov will head a Bulgarian delegation to the NATO Summit in Vilnius on July 11-12, rather than President Radev as Commander-in-Chief of the Bulgarian military.