Defence Minister: Bulgaria is unable to provide 155-mm shells to Ukraine

Bulgaria in unable to provide 155 mm shells to Ukraine because it does not have them, caretaker Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said on March 27.

In his words, despite the provision of armements and ammunition to Kiev, the conflict is not subsiding, but deepening.

Caretaker Minister of Economy, Nikola Stoyanov, explained that if companies from the Bulgarian military-industrial complex have the capacity to produce the shells to NATO standard, they themselves decide with whom to trade, but after a decision by the Interdepartmental Commission for Export Control at the Ministry of Economy.

Referring to the EU and the European Defence Agency's project to provide 1 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, aretaker Defence Minister, Dimitar Stoyanov, said that Bulgaria did not have any.

"This 1 million ammunition has to come out as stocks from some warehouses. We do not have such shells in the Bulgarian army, they cannot be provided to Ukraine for the simple reason that we do not have such calibre and we do not use it yet in the Bulgarian army," said the caretaker defence minister.

The EU project to support Ukraine also includes the joint acquisition of 155mm shells by member states. The Bulgarian army, however, has no such weapon systems at this stage, Stoyanov explained.

"The Bulgarian army does not have such weapon systems, so we cannot currently conclude a contract for the acquisition of 155-mm shells, and we do not need them at the moment. I hope that at a later stage, after acquiring our howitzers, we will also use 155-mm shells," Dimitar Stoyanov said.