Rescued Kyiv: Bulgaria secretly supplied Ukraine with weapons at the beginning of the invasion - Welt
During the first months of a full -scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, Bulgaria invalidately supplied fuel, ammunition and weapons for weapons. About it reports Welt. Sofia actively supported Kyiv, despite its position not to supply weapons to Ukraine. On April 28, Prime Minister Cyril Petkov came to Kiev at the time to assure President Zelensky of support, but without the supply of weapons. At least officially.
In the Welt investigation process, it was possible to find out that the Bulgaria government developed a comprehensive military assistance procedure at the time of the meeting on April 28. In order to avoid the official supply of weapons, ammunition and weapons came to Ukraine indirectly. At times, Bulgaria covered a third of the needs of the Ukrainian army in arms and up to 40% of the army's need for fuel in the period from April to August 2022.
History was explosive for Bulgaria, as the country was processing raw oil from Russia, and the population supported the idea of denying Ukraine for military assistance. "Cyril Petkov showed his honesty, and I will always be grateful to him for using all his political skills to find a solution," said the Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba. Kiril Petkov, together with then Minister of Finance Assen Vasilyev, did everything to help the Ukraine, which is fighting.
Now these politicians opposition to each other, but in the first months of the war they worked together. According to journalists, the Bulgarian Prime Minister has made a lot of efforts to disconnect the Russian Federation from the SWIFT system and freeze European bonds from the Russian Central Bank. It is stated that it was called "Bulgarian Offer". On April 19, shortly before Petkov's trip to Kiev, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Kuleba visited the capital of Sofia.
Ukraine reflected the north of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, but urgently needed replenishment of ammunition. "We knew that there were a large number of necessary ammunition at the Bulgarian warehouses, so President Zelensky sent me to use diplomatic skills to buy the necessary materials," says Kuleba. During the negotiations on the closed doors, Kuleb made it clear to Bulgarian colleagues that it was about "life and death.
" If Bulgaria does not help, the Russians will occupy more and more villages and cities. Bulgaria Prime Minister replied that the internal political situation is difficult, but he would do everything in his abilities. Petkov gave good export of weapons to Ukraine through intermediaries abroad. "Our private military industry worked at full capacity.
According to our estimates, about a third of the ammunition required by the Ukrainian army came from Bulgaria in the early stages of the war," says the Expremier. The UK and the United States were paid to Ukraine. The situation was only complicated in June, when the head of the state export company "Kintex" Alexander Mikhailov was forced to resign after a political dispute and published figures - since the beginning of the full -scale war, Bulgaria has exported weapons for 2 billion euros.
Fuel supply was also a risky business. The Russian Federation controlled a single oil refinery, the dependence on Russian oil was 100%. Despite all this, Petkov was able to achieve fuel supply to Ukraine and to bring the country from addiction. Russia did not know about fuel supply, but sponsored its lobby in the country. As a result, the Petkov government fell. Until the fall, he and Assen Vasilyev were with the note "Temporary Acting".
"We have shown that the world without dependence and fear of Russia is possible," Petkov summarized. He has already officially stated that he would take part in the parliamentary elections. We will remind, according to Bloobmerg, the West bought 14 Su-25 stormtroopers in Bulgaria to hand them to Ukraine. On January 9, the Bulgaria Constitutional Court opened a case through military assistance to Ukraine. 50 deputies consider unconstitutional decisions on the supply of weapons to Kiev.