Bulgaria to receive €500m compensation for military aid to Ukraine

Bulgaria will receive about €500 million in compensation from its partners for the military assistance it provided to Ukraine.

"By helping Ukraine, we are actually helping ourselves," Bulgarian Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov said.

As reported by Euractiv, the country has already received €174 million from Denmark under two contracts to send military aid to Ukraine and expects at least €300 million more from the United States and the European Commission.

Euractiv recalls that Bulgaria is giving Ukraine its old military equipment made according to Soviet standards. At the same time, it can buy new Western weapons for compensation from its NATO and EU allies.

Zapryanov said Bulgaria has already handed over six packages of military aid to Ukraine. They included ammunition, armoured vehicles and faulty air defence missiles to be used as spare parts.

In 2024, Bulgaria sent 150 armoured vehicles and Soviet-made Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers.

However, despite the benefits for the Bulgarian army, which receives good money for old weapons, pro-Russian forces in the country oppose military aid to Ukraine.

The most ardent opponents are President Rumen Radev, the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party, which is part of the ruling coalition, and the large pro-Kremlin Revival party.

In December 2024, the Bulgarian parliament did not give the go-ahead to sign a security agreement with Ukraine.