Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev used the NATO summit as a stage to announce that the country will be supporting Ukraine financially based on its own capabilities. A day later, away from the international media and the representatives of the allies, he announced that Bulgaria has no such capabilities this year.
On 8th July, Bulgaria’s prime minister spoke to journalists in Ankara, during the NATO summit, and stated that “Bulgaria will provide financial support to Ukraine within the limits of its capabilities”. He used the stage to blame previous Bulgarain governments that have supported Ukraine in the past, while failing to help Bulgarian economy. Radev also mentioned the big deficit he claims his government inherited when they took over after the elections in April 2026.
During the same press event, he also expressed some of the key Kremlin talking points, which sounded contrary to his statement just minutes before that. While claiming that Bulgaria will support Ukraine, he also said that “we, the collective west, have been trying to achieve a conventional victory over the biggest nuclear power without having enough capabilities to counter their hypersonic missiles. And this is increasing dramatically the risk of escalation. This is increasing dramatically the risk of involving a nuclear… nuclear answer, and this is very very dangerous.”
Later that day, Radev met with Volodymyr Zelensky and didn’t miss the opportunity for photos. According to the Bulgarian government’s website, the pair has discussed the cooperation between Bulgaria and Ukraine in the energy sector and the supply of energy resources.
It can’t be argued that it is a good look in front of NATO and the European Union to seem united with Ukraine, so this opportunity was definitely not missed.
The day after, however, on 9th July 2026, already in Bulgaria, Radev made a 2-minute statement at the start a ministerial meeting: “Previous governments made a firm long-term commitment to provide financial support to Ukraine through fixed annual contributions. At the same time, they left us with a huge budget deficit. That is why I told our allies that Bulgaria will support Ukraine according to its capabilities, and this year we do not have such capabilities.”
No questions were allowed.
As with every unpopular decision, or one that seems to be against the interest of either Bulgaria or its allies, the excuse was the former governments. It has been almost three months since Radev gained a majority in the Bulgarian parliament, but almost daily, he and his ministers blame their predecessors instead of taking positive steps forward. Furthermore, Rumen Radev has personally appointed 7 caretaker governments in the last 9 years while he was persident – for example, the current finance minister, Galab Donev, was a Prime Minister for 308 days in one of these governments.
Radev’s caretaker governments have governed the country for a total of over 2 years, or 28 months.
Radev’s caretaker cabinets:
- Gerdzhikov – 27/01/2021 – 16/09/2021
- Yanev – 12/05/2021 – 16/09/2021 & 16/09/2021 – 13/12/2021
- Donev – 02/08/2022 – 03/02/2023 & 03/02/2023 – 06/06/2023
- Glavchev – 09/04/2024 – 27/08/2024 & 27/08/2024 – 16/01/2025
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