VMZ Sopot

Over the last year, Bulgaria has earned 1.6 billion leva from the export of military products, Minister of Economy Bogdan Bogdanov announced to bTV.

"In recent weeks, the issue of arms exports to Ukraine has been used harshly. An accusation has been made that we speak one thing in public and do another behind the scenes. And while we claimed that we did not export a single cartridge, they claimed that tons of weapons for billions of levs were sold at night with intermediaries".

A coordination center "Plovdiv - Ukraine" is being established in the city under the hills. The open telephone line (+359) 032 / 605-550, which will be open 24 hours a day, will collect information on accommodation and employment opportunities for refugees from Ukraine from all municipalities in the district, employers, the Bulgarian Red Cross in Plovdiv and individuals.

State-owned Bulgarian arms producer VMZ Sopot has signed a technology transfer contract with Israel's Aeronautics, allowing VMZ Sopot to start producing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), the economy ministry said on Thursday, reports Reuters. 

The vehicle used by the attackers who fired at ex-security agent Alexei Petrov using grenade launchers has been found, police say.

Reports suggest the car was found near the site of the incident.

The attackers are still being sought.

One of the four injured in Saturday's grenade launcher accident at the shooting range in the village of Anevo remains in critical condition, according to doctors at the University Hospital "Sveti Georgi" in Plovdiv.

Trade union representatives have vowed that the production process at the explosion-stricken Iganovo site of Bulgarian military plant VMZ Sopot will start in a week's time.

Explosions have been heard from warehouses of the VMZ Sopot military plants near the village of Iganovo, Central Bulgaria, officials say.

There have been so far no reports of injured people, though official information is not yet available.

Bulgaria's Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski insisted that he had ordered an inspection at the ammunitions depot of military plant VMZ Sopot in Iganovo prior to the explosion on Saturday evening.

An explosion occurred at a warehouse of Bulgaria's largest arms factory, VMZ Sopot, located near the southern village of Iganovo, Karlovo Municipality, on Saturday evening.

The tip-off for the blast was received at around 7:30 p.m., according to Geori Kostov, Chief Secretary of the Interior Ministry, as cited by the Bulgarian National Television.