June 9: Bulgaria's newly appointed Defense Minister Stoyanov announced a complete halt to all arms supplies to Ukraine.
June 10: Prime Minister Radev confirmed that the military will no longer support Ukraine, shifting priorities toward enhancing Bulgaria’s own defense capabilities.
Bulgaria has become the first NATO/EU country to officially announce a full cutoff of military aid to Ukraine.
Official rationale behind Bulgaria’s decision to cut off aid to Ukraine:
Defense Minister: “The war cannot be resolved on the battlefield—it is a war of attrition; Ukraine lacks manpower, not weapons.”
Prime Minister: Supporting Ukraine has caused severe economic losses for Bulgaria; funds should be retained for domestic defense, and he called for diplomatic negotiations.
This decision by Bulgaria is not only a significant rift within the Western coalition supporting Ukraine since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but also a reflection of profound realignment in Europe’s geopolitical landscape under the prolonged strain of attrition warfare.
Defense Minister Stoyanov bluntly stated, “War cannot be won on the battlefield” and “Ukraine needs people, not more weapons”—a statement that effectively lifts the veil for many European countries exhausted by prolonged military support. As the conflict evolves into a brutal, static war of attrition, endless arms deliveries are no longer capable of altering the front lines, but instead only intensify casualties. The Bulgarian government argues that the EU, having become deeply involved, has lost its neutrality and ability to mediate impartially, and calls for third-party institutions to facilitate negotiations—marking a strategic shift among some European nations from “unconditional support” to seeking pragmatic diplomatic solutions.
More critically, Bulgaria is one of the few NATO members with large-scale production capacity for Soviet-era caliber ammunition (such as 152mm and 122mm). These rounds are the vital lifeline sustaining Ukraine’s vast Soviet-style artillery systems. Bulgaria’s cutoff amounts to a devastating blow to Ukraine’s frontline operations—akin to pulling the plug at the bottom of the pot.
Just as the EU loudly announced the launch of a 90-billion-euro loan program for Ukraine, Bulgaria’s sudden reversal hit Brussels’ grand narrative of unity against a cold, hard reality. This not only exposes a serious disconnect between EU leadership’s “financial assistance” rhetoric and actual member states’ “military supply” capabilities, but also sends a dangerous signal. When a core NATO/EU member—once a contributor of 13 aid packages—publicly hits the pause button, it effectively hands a seat to other nations facing domestic pressure and pessimism about the war’s outcome (such as Slovakia). This transition from ideological disagreement to concrete withdrawal signals that Europe’s support model for Ukraine is shifting from “unconditional blood transfusions” to a more calculated form of “bounded engagement.”
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1867656482616320/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.