site.btaMichail Buykli, a Bessarabian Bulgarian, Falls on the Donetsk Frontline

Michail Buykli, a Bessarabian Bulgarian, was killed on the front line on January 2, 2025, while carrying out a combat mission in the Donetsk direction, the Bolhrad District Military Administration said on its website on Wednesday.

The 43-year-old Bulgarian had been serving in a mechanized unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the start of the war.

Buykli was originally from the Bulgarian-Gagauz village of Kubei in the Bolhrad district, Odesa region.

The Bolhrad District Military Administration expressed its deepest condolences to Buykli’s family in the announcement.

Bulgarians in the Odesa region number more than 150,000 and were the third largest population group in Ukraine in 2001, according to the official census. About 50,000 - 60,000 Bulgarians live in the city of Odesa itself. The largest compact Bulgarian population is concentrated in the Bolhrad, Izmail and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi districts.