Bulgaria approves decision on repair of Ukrainian military equipment

By Talha Ozturk and İhvan Radoykov

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Bulgaria’s parliament voted Wednesday to allow repairs of Ukrainian heavy military equipment at local defense enterprises but rejected the sending of weapons to Ukraine.

The decision, proposed by the We Continue the Change party of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, was adopted with 200 votes in favor, 16 against and one abstention in the 240-seat National Assembly, according to the BGNES news agency.

"Parliament gives a mandate to the Council of Ministers to discuss and implement measures related to the war in Ukraine, including the repair of military equipment for Ukraine," BGNES said on its website.

The parliament also passed a resolution to provide humanitarian, financial and military-technical assistance to the country.

The package includes humanitarian, financial and military assistance to Ukraine, continued support for Ukraine's accession to the European Union, assistance to Ukrainian refugees and enabling the import of Ukrainian grain to the Bulgarian port city of Varna, as well as strengthening energy cooperation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who sent a letter to parliament in the morning, said he did not ask Bulgaria for weapons assistance but only for the repair of damaged Ukrainian military equipment.

The parliamentary talks lasted for five hours due to the attitude of the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party, one of the ruling four coalition partners, against military aid to Ukraine.

Due to the objections of the Socialists, who declared that they would leave the coalition in case of sending weapons to Ukraine and opposed the sanctions imposed on Russia, changes were made in the draft resolution, which was previously prepared as "military-technical assistance.”

As a result, Bulgaria decided "not to send a single bullet to Ukraine" in the final decision and it was decided to support only military equipment repairs.

At least 3,238 civilians have been killed and 3,397 others injured in Ukraine since the war with Russia began on Feb. 24, according to UN estimates. The true toll is feared to be much higher.

More than 5.6 million people have fled to other countries, with over 7.7 million people internally displaced, data from the UN refugee agency shows.