Bulgaria may transfer 100 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine
The Bulgarian government may provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with a new military aid package.
What is known
This was stated by Ivailo Mirchev, a deputy from the coalition “Continuing Changes” – “Democratic Bulgaria”. We are talking about 100 armored personnel carriers that are in the warehouses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The machines have never been used for their intended purpose. In addition, some of them are in poor condition and need to be repaired. If the delivery is successful, Bulgaria may receive American M1117 armored personnel carriers instead of the old ones.
Translation of Mirchev’s text: “Today we are submitting a decision on new military aid to Ukraine to the Parliament. It will consist of about 100 armored vehicles, mostly APCs from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
These APCs were manufactured in the 1960s and 1970s and were transferred to the internal troops (now the gendarmerie) in the 1980s, around the time of the revival.
Fortunately, the armored vehicles were never used, some of them are technically defective and no longer needed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For 40 years, they had been gathering dust in warehouses and only absorbed the costs of their protection and maintenance.
By providing armored vehicles to Ukraine, we not only do not worsen the combat capability of our army, but we should insist on compensation from the United States. It has already become clear that by the end of 2022 The United States has offered Bulgaria $200 million in American air defense systems if our country provides Ukraine with old Soviet weapons. Radev’s interim government did not take advantage of this opportunity, thus losing the chance to improve the defense capabilities of our army.
Over the past 16 months, Ukraine has purchased about 5 billion leva worth of weapons and ammunition from our military plants. This amount is expected to reach BGN 7 billion by the end of 2023. Ukraine invests these billions in the Bulgarian economy, and more than 100,000 Bulgarians earn their living (directly and indirectly) at the arms factories.
That is why today, together with the PP-DB, the GERB, and the DPS, we are submitting a draft decision to the People’s Assembly to provide Ukraine with armored vehicles that we do not need. We worked on this idea for about a month with Prime Minister Denkov, the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Defense, and the Chairman of the Defense Committee of the National Assembly, Hristo Gadzhev.”
By the way, Mirchev did not say what kind of armored personnel carriers they plan to transfer to Ukraine. Most likely, it is a BTR-60. This is a Soviet combat vehicle with an 8×8 wheel formula. It was developed in 1956-1959.
