Bulgaria may supply Ukraine with MiG-29, if it receives F-16s sooner

This was reported by EFE, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

Bulgarian Defense Ministry emphasized that they are not going to donate the fighters to Kyiv.

EFE notes that Bulgaria currently has 16 MiG-29 fighter jets, and only six of them are functional. Due to EU sanctions against Russia, Bulgaria can no longer receive technical assistance from the Russian side.

Initially, Bulgaria's contacts with its partners regarding the possible transfer of aircraft to Ukraine were reported in secret Pentagon documents, that were recently leaked on social media.

EFE emphasizes that if Bulgaria decides to transfer its MiG-29s to Ukraine now, it will be left without any fighters for at least a year and a half, as the batch of F-16s previously purchased from the United States will not arrive until 2025.

At the same time, the agency recalls that Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has repeatedly spoken out against arms supplies to Ukraine and expressed hope that the country's government would no longer supply Ukraine with weapons. Currently, Bulgaria has an interim government appointed by Radev.

• Bulgaria has identified Russia's military aggression as a direct threat to global peace. The Ministry of Defense stated that the Russian army was committing systematic crimes in Ukraine.

• On April 6, it became known that Bulgaria was completely closing its ports to Russian ships.