Welt learned about the secret supply of ammunition and fuel to Bulgaria for the Armed Forces of Ukraine

The government of former Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, shortly after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, organized the supply of ammunition and fuel for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, figured out newspaper Welt, who spoke with the participants in those events.

“According to our estimates, about a third of the ammunition needed by the Ukrainian army at an early stage of the war came from Bulgaria,” Petkov himself told the publication.

Supplies of ammunition were not carried out directly, Sofia issued permission to intermediary companies for export to foreign firms not associated with Ukraine. At the same time, the Polish airport Rzeszow, located 70 kilometers from the border with Ukraine and carefully guarded by NATO, became the main point of shipment. Overland deliveries at the same time were carried out through Hungary and Romania.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba confirmed these deliveries, noting that it was “rather about Ukrainian companies and companies from NATO countries being able to buy what they need from Bulgarian suppliers.” The deliveries were paid for by the US and the UK, Welt notes.

In addition, Bulgaria has become one of the largest suppliers of diesel fuel, sometimes covering up to 40% of Kyiv’s needs. At the same time, the fuel was processed from Russian crude oil at the Black Sea refinery, which at that time belonged to the Russian company “Lukoil“, the publication claims.

Moreover, Sofia became one of the initiators and the first tough anti-Russian sanctions, Welt found out. Thus, on February 25, 2022, Petkov, at an informal meeting of the European Council in Brussels, spoke in favor of disconnecting Russian banks from SWIFT and freezing Eurobonds of the Bank of Russia. The head of the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance, Asen Vasilyev, in turn, allegedly was able to convince the participants in the meeting of finance ministers of the need for prompt imposition of sanctions. Two days later, the EU adopted these measures, and in EU circles they were called the “Bulgarian proposal”.

After the start of the special operation, the authorities of the US, EU, UK and other countries began to impose sanctions against Russia, including freezing the assets of Russian businessmen and companies. The countries also froze about half of the international reserves of the Bank of Russia in the amount of about $300 billion. In addition, the European Union disconnected Sberbank from SWIFT, VTBbanks “Russia”, “Opening“, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank and a number of other lending institutions.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized Western financial and military assistance to Ukraine. In particular, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, has repeatedly warned that pumping Ukraine with weapons brings NATO closer to the dangerous line of a direct military clash with Russia.