The 100 APCs, which Bulgaria provided to Ukraine free of charge by a decision of the National Assembly, are already being transported to Ukraine. This is evident from a post by Defense Minister Todor Tagarev, who also published photos from the beginning of the transport of the vehicles to Ukraine, a BGNES reporter reports.
At the end of November last year, lawmakers decided to adopt a draft law on the ratification of the Agreement between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on the free provision of armored transport equipment, signed in Sofia on August 8, 2023 and in Kiev on November 13, 2023.
This was done with the votes of 152 MPs, 57 voted against and there were no abstentions.
The agreement was concluded in implementation of the decision of the National Assembly of 21 July 2023 on additional provision of military-technical support to Ukraine. Under the agreement, the Ukrainian side will be provided with armoured transport equipment with the armament available for it, as well as spare parts for its servicing, with the necessity for the needs of the Ministry of the Interior having ceased.
Following the vote on the decision to approve the agreement with Ukraine, President Rumen Radev vetoed it, but lawmakers overrode it.
Only a few days ago, Defence Minister Todor Tagarev commented that the vehicles were still in Bulgaria, as transporting them to Ukraine would be quite costly for the state budget. "Three ministries are working together. It is already clear who will load them, where they will go. This is a very serious logistical operation," he clarified, after which he commented that the amount of money for transport is large, but it would still be bearable for our country. "However, the ministry will look for the possibility that the transport will be financed by one of the countries participating in the Ramstein-format (the contact group on the defence of Ukraine, the so-called Ramstein format), Tagarev said a few days ago. /BGNES
