Bulgarian Parliament’s Defense Committee supports provision of man-portable air-defence system and anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine
At a meeting on Thursday, the Defense Committee of the Bulgarian Parliament supported the provision of unusable, outdated or surplus man-portable air defense systems (MPADS) and anti-aircraft missiles of various types to Ukraine.
The decision was supported by 11 members of the parliamentary committee, one abstained, and four from the pro-Russian Revival and Bulgarian Socialist parties voted against it, Censor.NET reports with reference to European Pravda.
The proposal is part of a draft decision to provide additional military assistance to Ukraine, which was presented on Thursday by the parties of the Bulgarian government coalition - GERB-SDS, Continuing Changes-Democratic Bulgaria, and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.
It refers to Bulgaria's determination of the surplus amount of weapons and equipment needed to man wartime formations and the preparation of a proposal to provide these weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
Negotiations should also be held with the governments of NATO member states on the deployment of the anti-aircraft and anti-ship missile systems of the Alliance to strengthen Bulgaria's defense capabilities.
In addition, it is proposed to consider the possibility of Bulgaria joining a coalition of countries to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets and allowing military training for up to 160 Ukrainian military personnel per year on a rotational basis.
Bulgaria has previously offered to transfer missiles to Ukraine for the S-300 systems, which the country is unable to repair on its own, but which Sofia says Kyiv will be able to repair and use for defense.
The authorities are also looking for ways to unblock an agreement to transfer 100 armored personnel carriers from the Bulgarian Interior Ministry's warehouses, which was vetoed by President Rumen Radev.
