Bulgarian president calls Ukraine's victory over Russia impossible

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has called Ukraine's victory over Russia "impossible" and linked the war to an assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.

As reported by Euractiv, Radev stated that the continuation of the war is catastrophic for all sides.

"Every day that this war continues is disastrous for Ukraine, Russia and all of us. This inevitably affects all elections – in Europe, in the USA, and everywhere in the world. We will choose in this and the next election between war and peace. Every citizen is obliged to understand this," Radev said.

Answering a journalist's question about the signal sent to Europe by the assassination attempt on Fico, the Bulgarian president spoke about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

"It is unacceptable to present the continuation of the war and the impossible victory over Russia as the only possible solution," Radev noted. 

He said it is extremely dangerous for the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to escalate in Europe and for "voices for peace to be greeted with shots". 

"The attempted assassination of a European prime minister by a radicalised fanatic, because of his support for peace, is indicative of this ingrained intolerance of dissent and hatred. Many politicians, parties and media have contributed to this with their portrayal of every different voice as pro-Russian, which is extremely unfair and leads to all these negative consequences," Radev added. 

He warned that if the war continues, Ukraine will become a "demographically devastated country, with completely destroyed infrastructure, industry, production, and this will have extremely serious consequences not only for Ukraine but also for the whole of Europe". 

Radev called for political efforts for peace rather than weapons provision, "With weapons, without weapons – we are going to a similar outcome. We have to realise that. The difference will be thousands of human casualties and a devastated country (Ukraine) for which recovery we will have to pay" he pointed out, adding that "it is inevitable". 

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev is a staunch opponent of providing military assistance to Ukraine. 

During a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Bulgarian capital Sofia in July 2023, Radev referred to Russia's invasion several times as a "conflict". 

In December, Radev vetoed a parliamentary bill to ratify an agreement with Ukraine on supplying Kyiv with armoured personnel carriers. However, Parliament overrode the veto.