Bulgaria must send arms to Ukraine, the country's parliament decided on Thursday, ordering the government to come up with a plan within the next month. The country was one of the few EU members, along with Hungary, to refuse to ship arms directly to Ukraine. Kyiv.
Some 175 lawmakers voted in favor of a six-point plan to provide military aid to Ukraine, detailing what weapons could be delivered to Kyiv. Another 49 voted against the motion. of the Socialist Party, a friend of Russia, then coalition partner in government.
In May, Parliament voted against military aid, ruling that support to Ukraine should not go beyond aid for military reparations. The recently passed motion calls for the cabinet to start talks with NATO allies to replace or increase defense capabilities in exchange for faster release of their Soviet-era military equipment.
During the debate, parliamentarians from different parties argued that providing military aid to Ukraine could be an opportunity for Bulgaria to modernize its stock of weapons.
However, President Rumen Radev and Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov opposed the idea, saying that the Bulgarian military cannot afford such arms supplies and arguing that partners like the US would not provide replacement arms as a "gift". It is not clear what military aid could be sent to Ukraine and how quickly this could happen.
To date, Bulgaria has shipped at least €1 billion worth of arms and ammunition to Ukraine indirectly through other countries that buy and ship its arms, an estimated boon for the Bulgarian defense industry.
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