Vladimir Zelensky is visiting Bulgaria

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived on Thursday for a visit to Bulgaria. This is his first visit to the country as head of state.

“I will hold detailed negotiations with Prime Minister Mykola Denkov, I will meet with President Rumen Radev, officials, parliamentarians, politicians, and journalists,” Vladimir Zelensky said in a message on the Telegram channel. Among the topics to be discussed, he listed defense support, the Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine, the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius next week, security guarantees and the implementation of the peace formula proposed earlier by the Ukrainian leader.

On the website of the Bulgarian service of Radio Liberty, it is noted that the Bulgarian parliament is currently discussing a draft decision that will allow the government to negotiate with Ukraine on the sale of equipment for the Belene nuclear power plant on the banks of the Danube, in the north of the country. There is also a vote on the declaration by which Sofia expresses support for Ukraine’s membership in NATO after the end of the full-scale Russian invasion.

Unofficial information that Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Sofia appeared on Tuesday in the mass media. On Thursday morning, Prime Minister Denkov confirmed that the Ukrainian president is visiting Bulgaria. The visit is taking place against the background of sending new military aid to Ukraine. The government of Mykola Denkov made a decision about this a few weeks after taking office.

President Rumen Radev and the temporary governments appointed by him, who led Bulgaria from mid-2022 to June of this year, opposed sending military aid to Kyiv. Radev called the support of Kyiv with weapons and ammunition an incitement to war. However, the cabinet sent military aid in accordance with the decision of the parliament from December 2022, according to RFE/RL’s Bulgarian service.

• In December 2022, announcing the peace formula, President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that it contained ten points. “From nuclear security to the restoration of the territorial integrity of our state, from energy security to the return of all prisoners of war and deportees held on the territory of Russia. This is now one of the key tasks of our state – to attract peace to the concrete implementation of the points of the peace formula. We must return the Ukrainian flag to everything cities and municipalities of Ukraine, to ensure the real responsibility of the terrorist state for this war and must ensure the safety of all generations of Ukrainians after the end of this war,” said the President of Ukraine.