The Bulgarian government is preparing a new package of military assistance for Ukraine in accordance with Ukrainian requests and available resources.

Todor Tagarev, Minister of Defense of Bulgaria, stated this.

The amount of assistance provided will be the same as last time in terms of volume.

“We take out from the depots what is in good condition, has a larger resource, but, say, 30-40 or more years, and there is always a question of the cost, what exactly we mean and how this cost is calculated,” said Tagarev.

At the same time, he noted that the issue of providing basic military equipment is not currently being discussed.

The Defense Minister also disagreed with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, who called Bulgaria’s future accession to the EU initiative to provide Ukraine with millions of artillery shells a mistake.

“It’s about investment, European investment, capacity expansion, and modernization of our defense industry until we missed an opportunity because Commissioner Thierry Breton first came to Bulgaria, but then he went to other countries, and we said we didn’t need it,” the Minister added.

On Tuesday, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev opposed the accession of his country to the European Union initiative to provide Ukraine with artillery shells for the war with Russia.

The Bulgarian President stated that the war in Ukraine is in escalation, “carries huge risks, and depletes our economies and social systems.”

“I argued both in Bulgaria and in Brussels that our country should not interfere by supplying weapons to the war in Ukraine. This is not the way to end this conflict,” Radev added.

The issue of sending projectiles to Ukraine caused an absentee dispute between Radev and Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, who believes that Bulgaria should respect its obligations.

Previously, Bulgaria also expressed readiness to transfer MiG-29 to Ukraine only in exchange for new aircraft.