Bulgaria sent the first of 100 donated armored personnel carriers to Ukraine
Bulgaria has started an operation to send 100 armored personnel carriers from the warehouses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to Ukraine.
This was reported by the Bulgarian Minister of Defense Todor Tagarev, Militarny writes .
“The operation is ongoing. The Ministry of Defense supports the process of providing Ukraine with armored personnel carriers of the Interior Ministry,” wrote Todor Tagarev.
He did not provide any other details, but published photos of armored personnel carriers, painted in police colors, being loaded onto car trawlers.
BTR-60 MIA of Bulgaria for Ukraine. Photo: Todor Tagarev
Last month, Todor Tagarev claimed that transporting the APC would be expensive, so Bulgaria is looking for which of Ukraine’s allies could finance the operation.
“It is already clear who will load them, where they will go. This, again, is a very serious logistical operation,” the minister said.
It will be recalled that in November 2023, the National Assembly of Bulgaria ratified the intergovernmental agreement between Sofia and Kyiv, which regulates the transfer of 100 decommissioned armored personnel carriers to Ukraine.
BTR-60 MIA of Bulgaria for Ukraine. Photo: Todor Tagarev
We are talking about the transfer of obsolete Soviet BTR-60 armored personnel carriers, which began to be manufactured in the 1960s. These APCs have been in the warehouse of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Bulgaria since the 1980s.
This is the first time when the Bulgarian side transfers armored equipment to Kyiv directly, and not through intermediaries, as it did before.
In what barn were they stored since 1980?
I think they were used recently as they are painted in UN colours.
^bert
Very good. Although they will need a camouflage paint job before they can protect ukrainian soldiers. 🇺🇦👍🇧🇬