The newly appointed government of Bulgaria is officially halting military aid to Ukraine. This was announced at a press conference by the country's Minister of Defense Dimitar Stoyanov, reports The Sofia Globe.

The head of Bulgaria's defense ministry called on the parties to sit down at the negotiating table and seek a "fair peace".

"We are seeing a positional war, and no matter how much weaponry is accumulated, the only thing achieved is loss of human lives. Ukraine needs more people, not more weapons. It has enough weapons, so we do not foresee supplying more weaponry to the Ukrainian army," said Dimitar Stoyanov.

He also added that it would be difficult for the European Union to act as a neutral mediator in these negotiations, as the EU has actively assisted Ukraine in repelling Russian aggression.

The new government's pro-Russian vector

The position of the Minister of Defense fully reflects the policy of the new Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev. Over the past month, since his appointment, his government has tried to avoid the Ukrainian issue, which is a usual tactic for Radev – during his presidency, he consistently advocated against military-technical assistance to Kyiv and promoted "diplomatic solutions".

Recently, during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Radev reiterated his points that "the protracted war is exhausting all sides," and therefore it is time for diplomacy.

What Ukraine is losing

For a long time, Bulgaria remained one of the key, albeit non-public, donors to the Ukrainian army. Official reports from the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms confirm the large-scale export of Bulgarian Soviet-era weapons and ammunition to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in 2022. Until now, Bulgarian-made shells have significantly helped the Armed Forces of Ukraine to maintain defense in critical areas of the front.

Read also: Elections in Armenia: Pashinyan's party receives 64 mandates and a parliamentary majority.

We remind you that earlier The Times wrote, that the rise of a pro-Russian leader in Bulgaria is a strategic success for Putin. Radev's government is likely to deepen dependence on Russian oil and gas, as well as hinder the expansion of the EU or NATO through Ukraine's accession.