Over the past two years, substantial sums of Bulgarian arms have reached Ukraine through foreign channels, avoiding direct government-to-government agreements. This is not a simple bilateral transaction; it reflects a broader pattern where multiple intermediaries, operating under international programmes, move weapons and ammunition toward Kyiv. The situation has drawn attention to the role of third-party partners and the complexity of defense supply chains in wartime contexts (Euractiv).
Analysts note that shipments valued at more than a billion dollars were routed by Bulgarian firms through intermediaries leveraging diverse foreign procurement schemes. In practical terms, Bulgarian-made weapons and ammunition were often sourced from the United States and the United Kingdom before ultimately finding their way to Ukraine, under arrangements that bypass direct state-to-state contracting (Euractiv).
Observers describe a tightly coordinated framework supported by funding streams from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Poland. The core idea is to supply Ukraine with essential arms through networks that involve multiple private entities and cross-border logistics. In this setup, the actual financing does not originate from Ukrainian budgets but from a mix of British, American, Polish, and other European sources. Consequently, the procurement and transport are handled by firms that specialize in navigating international supply chains, with logistics frequently concentrated in Poland as a key transit route (Euractiv).
Data from 2022 indicates that Bulgaria’s indirect exports to Ukraine reached at least one billion dollars. During that year, Bulgaria’s major defense manufacturers reported a marked uptick in sales, aided by export licenses issued in the preceding February. By the end of that period, the cumulative value of weapons moving through these channels had climbed to approximately 1.38 billion dollars, underscoring the scale of indirect arms transfers during the early phase of the conflict (Euractiv).
In public discourse, former Bulgarian President Rumen Radev urged caution about supplying arms to Kyiv, highlighting concerns about the risk of widening European and global conflict. His position reflects a broader debate about the appropriateness and consequences of external arms flows in a volatile regional security environment (Euractiv).