site.btaDefence Minister: Funds for Aid to Ukraine Are Reimbursable from the European Peace Facility

Caretaker Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said here Tuesday that the funds for the equipment and humanitarian assistance provided by Bulgaria to Ukraine are reimbursable from the European Peace Facility (EPF). He added that Bulgaria has applied and sent the necessary documents.

The total value of the Bulgarian humanitarian aid provided to Ukraine is BGN 7,097,730.15. For this amount the Bulgarian Ministry of Defence has provided Ukraine with 2,000 helmets, 2,000 bulletproof vests, 350 pieces of medical kits, 5,000 sets of winter clothes and 5,000 pairs of shoes.

Stoyanov denied a recent Bloomberg article saying that NATO member states had bought from Bulgaria 14 Russian-made SU-25 aircraft and delivered them to Ukraine.

The Defence Ministry has already officially denied the report.

He said that in the past 10 years the Defence Ministry has not exported SU-25 aircraft. A total of 20 SU-25s were sold between 2005 and 2012 to four companies. "If we talk about the conflict in Ukraine in particular - the Ministry of Defence has not sold any aircraft there", Stoyanov said. The last SU-25 that were owned by Bulgarian companies were exported in 2005 - 2012.

The minister was in Kostenets, Southwestern Bulgaria, for the opening of a new ammunition plant. He said that high demand of such products will enhance the development of the owner company, Terem-Holding, but more importantly – it will creare jobs in Kostenets.

The new plant will use a 1930s technology for shell loading, said Terem - Tsar Samuil manager Ivan Stoyanov. He expects the new plant to create about 30 jobs.