Bulgarian premier calls on defense minister to resign

By Ihvan Radoykov

SOFIA (AA) - Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov on Monday called on the country's Defense Minister Stefan Yanev to resign over his reluctance to describe the Russian attack on Ukraine as a war.

In a news conference ahead of a Cabinet meeting, Petkov said: "My defense minister cannot use the word operation instead of the word war. You cannot call it an operation when thousands of soldiers from the one and the other side are already killed."

He accused Yanev of trying to drive the country’s foreign policy through his social media posts.

"No minister can attempt to do foreign policymaking on his own through Facebook," Petkov said.

All four parties in the coalition government have agreed on Yanev's resignation, he said, adding: "Our new defense minister will be appointed in the extraordinary session to be held in parliament on Tuesday."

In a Facebook post, Yanev described the situation in Ukraine as a “military intervention” and warned against using the word “war.”

Moscow’s war on Ukraine entered its fifth day on Monday, with the latest reports indicating that Russian troops were heading toward the capital, Kyiv.

It was met by an outcry from the international community, with the EU, UK, Japan, and US implementing a range of economic sanctions against Russia.

At least 102 civilians have so far been killed in Ukraine and more than 500,000 others have fled the country, according to UN officials.