Bulgaria is ready to repair Ukrainian military machines in its factories

This was announced by Prime Minister Kirill Petkov at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. Zelensky himself said he relied on such assistance. Zelensky also promised co-operation to bring Bulgarian sailors off the “Rozhen” ship. Petkov is visiting the Ukrainian capital, accompanied by Defense Minister Dragomir Zakov and coalition partners. He has already visited the towns of Borodyanka and Bucha. The Prime Minister believes that Bulgaria cannot remain indifferent to what is happening in Ukraine and that next week the parliament will vote on military-technical assistance for Kyiv.

After an hour-long meeting between Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, it became clear that Bulgaria could also repair Ukrainian military equipment.

"Today in our conversation with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria we talked about establishing cooperation for the repair of Ukrainian military equipment in Bulgarian factories. This is very important for Ukraine. I am convinced that such cooperation will be beneficial for Bulgarian companies and the Bulgarian economy." said Vladimir Zelensky.

"Regarding military aid - it is important to have an inquiry. There are factories in Bulgaria to repair heavy equipment. We will be happy to raise the issue with parliament - can we repair such machines," said Kiril Petkov, prime minister.

The two also discussed the possibility of co-operation in the energy sector

"Ukraine is ready to supply Bulgaria with electricity, to assist in the diversification of gas. We have reached agreements for the transportation of agricultural products from Ukraine through the port of Varna," said Vladimir Zelensky.

"Bulgaria will be happy to facilitate the export of Ukrainian electricity to Bulgaria and the Balkans, which will give us a very good opportunity to have additional electricity. Bulgaria will be more than happy to use the port of Varna as a logistics base and distribute grain that cannot to export through your ports ", said Kiril Petkov.

Earlier, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, Defense Minister Dragomir Zakov, Stanislav Balabanov of "There Is Such a People", Atanas Atanasov of "Democratic Bulgaria" and Kaloyan Ikonomov of "We Continue the Change" visited Borodyanka northwest of Kyiv.

"It is one thing to look on the Internet and click on various sites with unclear content, it is another when you see a building like in" Mladost ", which is simply made of fluff and dust from a rocket," said Kiril Petkov.

Petkov said that seeing the destruction in Borodyanka, he was convinced that Bulgaria could not remain indifferent. He rejected the idea that if we sent weapons to Ukraine, we would prolong the conflict there.

"Bulgaria will not be indifferent to this tragedy and we take a clear position as part of the democratic world, as part of the EU, that we will stand by Ukraine because this is not just the battle of Ukraine, this is a civilizational choice - which side we want to we are standing," said Kiril Petkov.

According to Petkov, the conflict in Ukraine is not between two warring states. "We Continue the Change" have already decided to vote "for" weapons for Kyiv.

"Imagine if someone had said during the April Uprising, and said, 'well, it's best for this uprising to end sooner, for these people not to be able to defend themselves. Is this a position? How do we take it, in order to have peace faster?", said Kiril Petkov.

Petkov said the issue of military aid would not be the subject of a coalition agreement but would be voted on in good faith in the hall.

"As far as I know, we should have a majority in parliament with this position," Petkov said.

Petkov continues to take the position that not helping Ukraine is a disgrace.

“I will not comment on President Radev, in my opinion, his speech yesterday was to some extent a misunderstanding of the situation. The shameful part is the idea that it is best not to help Ukraine to end this conflict faster. This is the disgraceful part of this argument. This is if we say - we absolutely agree that Russia should win this war in order to get this problem out of our heads. This is not the position of the democratic world, this cannot be Bulgaria's position," Kiril Petkov said.

Petkov also visited Bucha, where a mass grave was discovered and where Russians were accused of committing war crimes. The Prime Minister thanked his coalition partners who accompanied him and said he would talk to the fourth - about what he saw on the ground and about his support for Ukraine. He rejected the thesis that the cabinet would fall after such a decision.

"Everyone has been talking about the fall of this cabinet since the first day this cabinet began. As you can see, it has not fallen. And what I can say is that I do not think it will fall," Kiril Petkov said.

"We are in quiet hell, I define it that way because people like us are buried under us. In the plenary hall, I have always called for a united position. The bigger the majority, the better. We are divided into coalition partners and the opposition, we must have a united position here, so I hope that whatever the Plenary Hall decides, it will have the largest possible majority," Balabanov (MP from “There Is Such a People”)said.

"What I see is appalling and I cannot explain it. I am convinced that regardless of the riots that exist in Bulgarian political life, the Bulgarian Parliament will make a civilizational choice. And will support the victim in a case like Ukraine, 100% I'm sure of that. Let's not speculate needlessly," said Atanas Atanasov (MP from “Democratic Bulgaria”).

Kiril Petkov also said that the suspension of Russian natural gas did not surprise the cabinet

"We have been ready with the strategy since February. Russia tried to bend our hands unilaterally, it turned out to be a poorly planned strategy from their point of view. So the good thing is that the answer will be European," he said.

Petkov also expressed surprise at the large number of Russian diplomats in our country - 114.

"I really wonder what these people are doing in Bulgaria. And the other thing I would suggest is to look very well at who these people are and to have a much more symmetrical representation of Russia in Bulgaria. As you know, they expelled most of our diplomats and our mission in Russia is less than 10 at the moment," said Kiril Petkov.

Petkov traveled to Poland by plane, then to Kyiv by train. The journey there takes between 11 and 16 hours.

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