“Bulgaria has provided no direct military or financial support to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War.”

In Annex I (list of Member States’ contributions in the form of guarantees), Bulgaria is listed among the EU countries providing national guarantees to back the EU’s macro‑financial assistance to Ukraine. The decision explains that these guarantees underpin the EU’s borrowing to provide loans to Ukraine, meaning Member States, including Bulgaria, take on contingent financial liabilities in support of Ukraine.

The Bulgarian government press release reports: ‘The National Assembly adopted a resolution instructing the Council of Ministers to provide military-technical assistance to Ukraine.’ It adds: ‘The decision authorises the provision of armaments, equipment and ammunition from the inventory of the Bulgarian Armed Forces and the defence industry, as well as repair of Ukrainian military equipment at Bulgarian enterprises.’

The Commission explains that ‘the EU and its Member States have mobilised €19 billion in macro‑financial assistance, budget support, emergency aid, crisis response and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.’ It underscores that ‘this effort is backed by guarantees from EU Member States,’ meaning governments including Bulgaria ‘are providing financial backstops for the Union’s borrowing on capital markets to finance loans to Ukraine.’

In the section listing bilateral support by Member States, the document notes that “Bulgaria has provided military equipment and ammunition to Ukraine, including through bilateral donations and participation in EU-coordinated assistance measures.” The same section also refers to “bilateral financial contributions from Member States, including Bulgaria, to support Ukraine’s resilience and reconstruction, complementing EU macro-financial assistance.”

In listing Member States’ bilateral actions, the resolution “welcomes the military, financial and humanitarian assistance provided to Ukraine by EU Member States, including Bulgaria,” and “calls on all Member States to continue and, where possible, increase their military support, including the supply of weapons.” The text recognises that such support is provided directly by Member States and via EU-level instruments such as the European Peace Facility, to which Bulgaria contributes financially.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has consistently opposed providing Ukraine with large-scale military aid. Despite Radev's opposition and the political turmoil, several pro-Western governments have moved ahead with arms deliveries to Ukraine, and in July 2023 lawmakers gave the green light for Bulgaria to send armored transport vehicles and other military assistance to Kyiv.

Citing a report of the Ministry of Defence, the article states that Bulgaria “conducts a consistent policy of engagement in providing humanitarian and defence aid to Ukraine.” It says: “Since the beginning of the war the Ministry of Defence has provided 13 packages of aid for Ukraine.” It adds that on 5 December 2022 “Bulgaria signed an agreement with Ukraine for the gratuitous provision of armament, equipment and ammunition,” and that in 2023 parliament approved the provision of armoured transport vehicles and surplus air-defence systems to Ukraine.

According to information published on the government’s website, Bulgaria has provided Ukraine with a total of 13 packages of military aid since the start of the full-scale war. The most recent of these was approved by the country’s government on February 12, 2026. It is noted that details regarding the type, volume, and financial cost of the aid remain classified.

For the fourth year in a row, Bulgaria has been providing comprehensive assistance to Ukraine: political, financial, military, humanitarian and diplomatic. Bulgaria is one of the countries that has been quite active in helping Ukraine with weapons during all the years of the war. As of today, the Black Sea country has handed over ten packages of military aid to Kyiv, which, in particular, included Su-25 aircraft, T-72M1S tanks, Grad multiple rocket launchers, Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers and towed D-20 guns, mortars, armored personnel carriers, anti-tank weapons, machine guns, ammunition, military equipment including helmets and bulletproof vests, diesel fuel, etc.

The article, quoting information published on the public information platform of the Council of Ministers, states: “The Ministry of Defence has provided thirteen packages of aid for Ukraine since the beginning of the war.” It notes that the ministry “does not inform what the content of the packages is” because the information is classified. It also reports that in 2023 parliament approved providing Ukraine with armoured transport vehicles with their armament and with surplus or unserviceable man-portable air-defence systems and missiles, and that former acting defence minister Atanas Zapryanov confirmed Bulgarian self-propelled howitzers ‘Gvozdika’ are in Ukraine.

Bulgaria will receive around 500 million euros ($519.5 million) from Kyiv's biggest donors in compensation for its military aid to Ukraine, the European news site Euractiv reported on Feb. 7. Sofia has already received 174 million euros ($180 million) from Denmark under two contracts related to military aid for Ukraine. Authorities expect at least another 300 million euros ($311 million) from the U.S. and the European Commission as compensation for sending military equipment to Kyiv.

In an official statement early in the war, President Rumen Radev declared that “Bulgaria will not send weapons to Ukraine” and argued that the country should not be drawn into the conflict. He repeatedly opposed parliamentary initiatives for military aid, warning that sending arms would make Bulgaria a party to the war. This position was later overridden by parliamentary decisions, but it has been used by some actors to claim that Bulgaria does not provide direct military support.

Bulgaria has officially announced its intention to join the PURL program, an initiative focused on the procurement of American weaponry for Ukraine. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the move on March 30, which marks a significant step in Sofia’s ongoing support for Kyiv. Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha highlighted that Bulgaria has already provided 16 packages of defense assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full‑scale invasion.

Bulgaria has emerged as a crucial lifeline for Ukraine, acting as an armsbasket amid the conflict with Russia. The country's defence companies have taken on an unprecedented role, operating around the clock to supply Ukraine with much-needed Soviet-type ammunition to support its resistance against Russia. The following list attempts to keep track of military equipment delivered or pledged to Ukraine by Bulgaria during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The entries below are sorted by armament category, and due to the confidential nature of some arms deliveries they can serve only as a lower bound to the total volume delivered.

The article describes how Bulgarian civil society and authorities have focused heavily on humanitarian support: “Now, with Europe facing the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War the Foundation has launched a fund for immediate and medium term support of Ukrainian refugees in Bulgaria.” It details grants and donations to support refugees’ needs and integration, but does not mention any Bulgarian government programmes of direct military or macro-financial support to the Ukrainian state, focusing instead on humanitarian and civil-society aid channels.

Since 2022, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and some parties have repeatedly claimed that Bulgaria should not send arms to Ukraine and have argued it should provide only humanitarian aid. These statements are part of an internal political debate and are often cited by commentators who argue that Bulgaria is not directly supporting Ukraine militarily.

In an interview, Bulgarian MP Daniel Mitov describes how his party supported military aid to Ukraine: "we support Ukraine from the first moment in which Putin crossed the Ukrainian border" and notes that the current government and parliamentary majority are "in full support of the Ukrainian effort" including the provision of weapons. He recalls that his party even bought drones from its own funds which were delivered to Ukraine before state‑level decisions on arms support were taken.

In the video, the narrator explains that Prime Minister Kiril Petkov publicly said: “while Sofia is providing Ukraine with humanitarian assistance Bulgaria is not sending weapons… we’re too close to the conflict to be able to do that.” Later, citing an investigation by the German newspaper Welt, the video states that “it has come to light that at the beginning of the invasion Bulgaria delivered to Ukraine numerous rounds of ammunition for its artillery… through third-party companies based in countries such as Poland or the Czech Republic.” The video also claims that “Bulgaria has covered up to 40% of all the diesel needed by Ukraine [between January and November 2022]… diesel that was entering Ukraine through Bulgaria came from imported oil from Russia refined by Lukoil and then shipped to the neighboring country.”

The video’s narration says that ‘while President Rumen Radev and some political forces lean pro‑Russian, public opinion is far more divided.’ It then explains that ‘despite the position of the president and some political parties, the parliament has approved military aid for Ukraine and has also aligned with EU sanctions on Russia.’ The video concludes that ‘the country has clearly moved against Russian threats and has steadily increased its support to neighboring Ukraine.’