site.btaDefence Ministry Facilitates Sending Interior Ministry's Armoured Vehicles to Ukraine

Defence Minister Todor Tagarev Friday said in a Facebook post that his ministry is assisting the process of providing Ukraine with the Interior Ministry's armoured personnel carriers, and that the operation is underway.

Parliament decided at the end of 2023, overriding a presidential veto, that Bulgaria should provide armoured transport equipment to Ukraine free of charge. These machines were given to the established Internal Troops in the 1980s and were not used by the gendarmerie. For the Interior Ministry they are definitely no longer needed, Tagarev said. He said the Ukrainian army could not attack with these machines, but they could serve them in some other conditions.

About 100 armoured personnel carriers from the Interior Ministry's warehouses will be sent by Bulgaria as aid to Ukraine, MP Ivaylo Mirchev of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) said in July 2023.