Bulgarian Parliament Supports the Entry of Ukraine Into NATO

On Thursday, the Bulgarian Parliament approved a declaration of support for Ukraine's entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) when peace is restored on its territory.

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Adopted with 157 votes in favor and 57 votes against, the declaration was supported by the two ruling parties: the reformist "We Continue the Change & Democratic Bulgaria" (PP–DB) alliance and the conservative GERB party.

The document also received the support of two opposition parties, the "Movement for Rights and Freedoms" and "There is Such a People" (ITN).

The approval of this document coincided with the visit of Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky to the city of Sofia, where he was received by Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and President Rumen Radev.

"The most direct and desirable way to restore peace in Ukraine, the Black Sea region and Europe is the complete, immediate, and voluntary withdrawal of Russia outside the internationally recognized borders of all affected sovereign states," the declaration said.

The legislators also called on the Bulgarian institutions to continue providing political, financial, humanitarian, military and military-technical support to Ukraine.

On Thursday, the Bulgarian parliament also passed a resolution asking the executive branch to "speed up the process of renewing the Ministry of Defence's wartime stocks of weapons, ammunition, explosives and pyrotechnics by replacing them with newly manufactured ones," as reported by Radio Bulgaria.