Rumen Radev believes that there is no military solution to the Ukrainian conflict
SOFIA, July 6. /tass/. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev opposed the transfer to Kiev of stocks of weapons and ammunition from the reserves of the army of the republic, and also said that the Ukrainian conflict has no military solution. The Bulgarian head of state said this on Thursday during talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
"I do not agree with the provision of ammunition to [Kiev], especially from the reserves of the Bulgarian army. As commander-in-chief, I have a clear responsibility to ensure that the country's defense capability is not weakened," the Bulgarian newspaper 24 Hours quotes Radev as saying.
"I continue to assert that there is no military solution to this conflict, and more and more weapons [supplied to Ukraine] are unlikely to lead to this solution. <...> We would also like to hear the word peace more. The leading efforts should be aimed at achieving peace. I believe that at the moment we have not used all diplomatic means to work in this direction," Radev said.
The Bulgarian president also said that he "understands the arguments" of Zelensky.
Earlier, issues of updating military stocks for the transfer of obsolete weapons to Kiev were urgently put on the agenda of the Bulgarian parliament, representatives of the opposition criticized this decision, and parliamentarian from the opposition Vozrozhdenie party Nikolay Drenchev called the urgent change in the parliament's agenda "bordering on treason."
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is in Bulgaria on a visit at the invitation of the Government of the Republic. Initially, the country's authorities did not confirm or deny information about his arrival for security reasons, and Bulgarian Defense Minister Todor Tagarev allowed the cancellation of the visit due to information leaks to the press. Sofia officially confirmed the arrival of the Ukrainian leader only on Thursday morning. The leader of the Renaissance, Kostadin Kostadinov, called Zelensky's arrival in Sofia an attempt to involve Bulgaria in a large-scale military conflict.