site.btaUPDATED Bulgaria to Provide SAM Systems, Anti-aircraft Missiles to Ukraine, Parliamentary Committee Decides

The National Assembly Defence Committee on Thursday voted, 11-4 with one abstention, to approve the provision by Bulgaria to Ukraine of defective portable surface-to-air missile systems and anti-aircraft missiles of various types which are either no longer needed or above establishment.

The proposal is part of a draft resolution on the provision of additional military assistance to Ukraine which was moved earlier in the day of GERB-UDF, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.

According to the motion, the surplus quantities of armaments and materiel are to be identified from those necessary for keeping the wartime units properly equipped, and a proposal for the provision of these armaments and material to Ukraine is to be drafted. Negotiations are to be carried out with the governments of the NATO Allies on the deployment of Allied surface-to-air and coastal anti-ship missile systems in order to strengthen Bulgaria's defence capabilities. 

The Defence Ministry is to take action for joining the coalition of countries for building F-16 use capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force, including for joint training and use of Bulgaria's airspace, the motion states. The draft resolution authorizes up to four rotating infantry/mechanized companies of the Armed Forces of Ukraine of numerical strength not exceeding 160 annually to pass through and stay in Bulgarian territory for the purpose of training.

During the debate on the draft resolution on provision of military assistance to Ukraine at the Defence Committee, BSP for Bulgaria and Vazrazhdane declared themselves against it.