"There is nothing surprising to me in the position of Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov on aid to Ukraine. It was expressed earlier by Prime Minister Rumen Radev. Minister Stoyanov stated clearly enough that Ukraine did not want anything from the current government coming to power. On the other hand, Bulgaria cannot send equipment and weapons," said in the studio of "Offensive with Lyubo Ognyanov" on NOVA NEWS, former Defense Minister Angel Naydenov.
"One of NATO's alarming findings since the beginning of the war in Ukraine is that a large part of the regulatory stocks that the countries are supposed to maintain turned out to be only on paper. The warehouses were empty. The efforts after the start of the Russian aggression were to increase the production capacity of the defense industry, but also to fill the stocks," Naydenov said.
"In December 2023, the second decision of the National Assembly obliges the Ministry of Defense to update the regulatory stocks and determine the excess quantities to be provided to Ukraine. These 13 packages exhaust this excess quantity," he recalled.
"Compensation for military aid takes place in three directions. One method is with the European Peace Support Mechanism. Another way is from countries that do not provide equipment, but provide funds. One such example is Japan. The third direction is from countries that finance the purchase of weapons and provide them to Ukraine. These are the Czech Republic, Poland, Great Britain," the former defense minister explained.
According to him, there are several scenarios in which the situation in Ukraine could develop. "Unfortunately, I don't think we are close to reaching a ceasefire agreement. Europe is following a formula that dictates its actions. It doesn't know whether to be a mediator or a participant in the negotiations. One direction that is being worked on is preparing a new package of sanctions on Russia. The other option is to continue supporting Ukraine in the war", said Naydenov.
Regarding the extended period of presence of American planes at Sofia airport, he said that the government was faced with the inevitability of accepting this decision. "The refusal of the American government's note would not be justified. I would not be surprised and would justify a decision by the Council of Ministers to extend the stay. It is not excluded that this decision will affect their relocation to some of the military airfields," said the former minister.