site.btaUkrainian Experts Explore Opportunities for Military Equipment Repairs in Bulgaria

A delegation of Ukrainian government officials and representatives of the Ukrainian defence industry are visiting Bulgaria in connection with the military technological assistance offered to their country, Deputy Defence Minister Yordan Bozhilov told journalists here on Wednesday.

The experts are currently touring the Bulgarian military repair works to see their condition and what they can offer, Bozhilov explained. He and another Deputy Defence Minister, Stanimir Georgiev, conferred with the delegation on Tuesday.

"We are clear about the National Assembly resolution [of May 4]: military technological assistance in the form of repair of military equipment, for which the Defence Ministry is ready. Our TEREM military repair works are in a condition to repair military hardware cutting across the spectrum. The Bulgarian works used to be the largest facility for repairing Soviet-standard equipment and were supposed to service not just Bulgaria but the whole Warsaw Pact, he added. The Deputy Defence Minister explained that these works specialize in mending small and large calibre firearms, tanks and armoured personnel carriers.

"Capacity is available, the key point is what exactly the Ukrainian authorities will wish to have repaired and the extent of repair," Bozhilov said.

He said that the helmets and bulletproof vests were sent to a set destination on Tuesday, from where they will leave directly for Ukraine. The Deputy Minister was apparently referring to 2,000 helmets and 2,000 bulletproof vests that the Bulgarian Council of Ministers decided to donate to the Ukrainian government for the protection of its citizens.