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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a trip to Bulgaria that Sofia had agreed to co-operate more actively in the defence sector, as Kyiv is seeking to shore up support among Nato members for its ongoing counteroffensive.
“We discussed the military aid which Bulgaria gives to our country,” Zelenskyy said during a joint news conference with the Bulgarian premier, Nikolai Denkov. “We count on the continuation of the co-operation which has already saved many lives.”
Bulgaria has a large stockpile of Soviet-era weapons and its arms manufacturing base links up with the systems in use in Ukraine relatively seamlessly.
But arms deliveries from the eastern EU country have been slow and carried out mainly via intermediaries, in part due to the Bulgarian president’s insistence that Sofia refrains from arming Kyiv.
A new pro-western government in Bulgaria, which took office in May, has however pledged to accelerate shipments and eliminate intermediaries.
The Bulgarian parliament on Thursday approved a plan to accelerate the replenishment of state reserves of weapons and ammunition, paving the way for large-scale deliveries to Ukraine.
Bulgaria’s pro-Russian, far-right Revival party described the visit as a provocation. The Kremlin also weighed in, saying that Zelenskyy’s visit showed Kyiv was doing all it could to drag as many countries as possible into the conflict.
Bulgarian politicians have visited Kyiv over the past year, but this was Zelenskyy’s first trip to Bulgaria since Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
The Ukrainian leader was expected to travel on to Turkey on Friday to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan before the expiration of the Black Sea grain deal, Turkish state media reported.
The Black Sea deal, which has allowed Ukraine to export grains despite a Russian blockade, is set to expire on July 17. Turkey, a Nato ally, played a major role in negotiating the pact.
Additional reporting by Adam Samson in Ankara