Bulgaria’s new authorities do not plan to continue transferring weapons to the Ukrainian army, Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said, according to the Vesti portal.

Stoyanov is part of Prime Minister Rumen Radev’s government, formed in May. Radev has repeatedly opposed military support for Kiev and called on Europe to reconsider its approach to the conflict in Ukraine by returning to diplomatic tools.

Speaking at a press conference, Stoyanov said Kiev needed manpower rather than weapons. He described the fighting as positional warfare and argued that no matter how many arms were accumulated, the outcome would only be further loss of life.

Bulgaria has held a special role among NATO countries because it produces ammunition for older Soviet-era systems still used by Ukraine. That capacity made the country one of Kiev’s key suppliers. Since 2022, Sofia has sent the Ukrainian side 13 military aid packages, though their value and contents have not been disclosed publicly.

Earlier, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said Warsaw would not send Ukraine weapons purchased under the SAFE credit program. The mechanism provides European Union countries with long-term low-interest loans to strengthen military and strategic infrastructure, buy weapons, and develop cyber and defense technologies. Poland signed a loan agreement worth about 43.7 billion euros the day before.