Bulgarian arms manufacturers and dealers sell their products to Poland and Romania, from where the arms are re-exported to Ukraine.
Bulgaria has become one of the largest indirect arms suppliers to Ukraine. Euractiv writes about it.
According to experts, since the beginning of the war, Bulgaria has supplied Ukraine with weapons and ammunition worth at least 1 billion euros through intermediaries.
At the same time, Bulgaria and Hungary are the only NATO and EU countries that have officially refused to send military aid to Ukraine.
Bulgaria’s export record this year was confirmed by the former executive director of the state-owned company Kintex Alexander Mikhailov.
According to him, the export of Bulgarian arms products in 2016 and 2017, when the conflict in the region continued in Syria, Libya and Yemen, amounted to a total of 1.1-1.3 billion euros. And since the beginning of the war in Ukraine until today, the value of permits for the export of weapons has reached more than 2 billion euros.
Currently, Bulgarian arms manufacturers and dealers sell their products mainly to Poland and Romania, from where arms are re-exported to Ukraine.
“Obviously, export volumes in Poland have grown significantly,” said Mikhailov, noting that Poland’s Rzeszow Airport, located about 70 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, is a central logistics hub.
“It is no coincidence that the United States installed the Patriot air defense system at this airport. In the first 120 days of the war in Ukraine, 60 cargo flights with weapons were carried out from Bulgarian airports to Rzeszow. The average carrying capacity is about 70 -80 tonnes of cargo per aircraft,” he said.
The GERB and Democratic Bulgaria political parties submitted two separate proposals to parliament a week ago for Bulgaria to help Ukraine with heavy weapons, including aircraft and missile systems.
Earlier it was reported that the new Bulgarian parliament intends to provide arms to Ukraine.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.