Bulgarian Defense Minister: Aid to Ukraine is Our Strategic Interest!

"Justice will not prevail if Russia remains in possession of even one square kilometer of Ukrainian territory and does not bear responsibility for the destruction caused and the war crimes committed". This is what Defense Minister Todor Tagarev said in the discussions on the motion of no confidence in the government for the defense sector and national security.

Tagarev pointed out that "aid to Ukraine is our strategic interest. By defending itself, Ukraine is defending Europe from the Kremlin. If Ukraine loses, be ready to at least double the resources that Bulgaria allocates for defense", Tagarev said.

"It is believed that at the time of the beginning of the military aggression, the Bulgarian community in Ukraine numbered about 230 thousand people", he noted. The majority of them live in Odesa, Izmail and other areas of southern Ukraine, subject to constant strikes and drone attacks, Tagarev added.

"Many ethnic Bulgarians joined the armed forces of Ukraine, some of them died for their homeland. I remember how, in the first days of the military aggression, the entire leadership of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) called to help the ethnic Bulgarians. That is what we are doing, but the situation is more difficult for the Tavrian Bulgarians who live in areas of the Zaporizhzhia region and closer to the Sea of Azov, which before the large-scale aggression were about 37 thousand people, after the beginning of the Russian aggression about 50% of them left the temporarily occupied territories, about 15% are refugees in other countries," said Tagarev.

Russians from Russia and Central Asia are living in abandoned apartments and houses - the land and products of the local Bulgarian population are being...