Today, the Bulgarian parliament approved additional military aid to Ukraine for the war with Russia, the state agency BTA reported.
Lawmakers approved the delivery to Ukraine of defective surface-to-air missiles for Russia's S-300 air defense system and ammunition for small-caliber automatic weapons rejected by the Interior Ministry.
Military experts say the missiles cannot be repaired in Bulgaria, but Ukraine can, or use parts from them.
Chief of the General Staff, Admiral Emil Eftimov, assured the deputies that sending weapons would not harm Bulgaria's defense.
He stated that "we have no intention of giving (Ukraine) the entire S-300 missile complex until we find the possibility of a replacement".
The vote showed the country's divisions over sending military aid to Ukraine: it drew criticism from the Socialist Party and pro-Russian nationalists from the Revival Party who voted against sending the aid.
Bulgaria still has stocks of obsolete Soviet weapons and many factories for ammunition for them, even though it joined NATO in 2004.
(BETA)
A television station run by Russia's Defense Ministry aired a video interview with Black Sea Fleet commander Viktor Sokolov on Wednesday, days after Ukraine said he was killed in a missile attack on the Russian navy's headquarters in Crimea, Reuters reports.
Car traffic was suspended Wednesday morning on a bridge on the Crimean peninsula, Russian authorities said on the Telegram messaging app, a measure often taken in response to Ukrainian drone or missile attacks.
Crimea was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014
In a new artillery attack by Russian troops in the southern Ukrainian regions of Nikopol and Kherson, civilians were wounded, while houses and infrastructure were damaged, regional officials announced early on September 27, while Ukrainian forces continue offensive operations in the south and east of the country, the Radio editorial office reported. Free Europe in English.
Twelve people were wounded in Kherson last day as a result of Russian shelling, Oleksandar Prokudin, head of the regional military administration, said on Telegram.
In the Nikopol region, two people were wounded in Russian shelling, Sergej Lisak, head of the military administration of the Dnipropetrovsk region, stated in Telegram on September 27.
He said that a two-story building was set on fire during the attack, but that the rescuers put out the fire.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army stated in its daily report that Ukrainian forces are carrying out offensive operations near the city of Bakhmut in the east and in the region of Melitopol, adding that a total of 26 battles were fought along the front lines in the last 24 hours.
On September 26, Russia again targeted grain export facilities in the Odesa region, causing damage and injuries among the local population, Ukrainian officials said.
Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said that Izmail, one of two Danube ports that Ukraine uses to export grain, was hit, and that a checkpoint building, a warehouse and more than 30 trucks and cars were damaged. Two people were wounded, he said.
Russia has stepped up airstrikes of the sites, targeting in particular Ukrainian grain export infrastructure in the southern Odesa and Mykolaiv regions.
Ukraine continued to export grain despite Russia's withdrawal from a United Nations-brokered deal in July that allowed safe grain shipments.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised new Ukrainian actions against Russia after last week's rocket attack on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in which, according to Kiev, 34 officers were killed, including the fleet commander.
Ukraine's claims about its attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet could not be confirmed, while Russia announced a significantly lower number of victims of the September 22 attack on the Crimean port of Sevastopol.
(Radio Free Europe)
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