26.02.2024
“I thank you for your invitation that allowed me to see with my eyes and feel with my heart your undeserved suffering but also your heroism and determination to attain the future you long for,” said Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Head of State of Ukraine welcomed Acad. Denkov at the Mariinskyi Palace on 26 February when his country marked another grim anniversary. Ten years ago, the illegal annexation of Crimea and Savastopol started Russia’s continuous aggression against Ukraine and broke open the way for a full-scale military invasion on 24 February 2022.
Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov pointed out that Bulgaria feels the nightmare of the devastation, suffering and loss. He recalled that the Bulgarians saw this horror in the eyes of the thousands of refugees to whom they opened their homes and hearts two years ago, heard about that in what our compatriots in Tavria and Bessarabia told them. He said that he had felt the pain physically at the sight of the destroyed residential buildings in the Solomianskyi District of Kyiv.
“It is now clear that Putin’s targets go beyond Ukraine. The ambitions of the Russian aggression constitute a threat, inter alia, to Bulgaria’s national security,” Acad. Denkov said. He explained that our support for Ukraine is our self-defense. He quoted a Bessarabian Bulgarian Georgi, a deminer at the front: “We are brothers, we are one nation.”
For his part, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Acad. Nikolai Denkov for Bulgaria’s support for Kyiv throughout the whole period of the Russian full-scale aggression. We highly appreciate the fact that Bulgaria sides with us and with the entire united Europe, Zelenskyy said. Ukraine’s President emphasized the productive talks today with the Bulgarian Prime Minister. Zelenskyy informed Denkov about the situation at the front and about the priority needs. Ukraine’s President specially underscored the joint efforts in the Black Sea and in the Danube region to expand trade flows and restore normal navigation. Denkov and Zelenskyy discussed also cooperation in the energy sector. We appreciate Bulgaria’s support for our pursuit to join the European and the Euro-Atlantic community – this strengthens our common security, Ukraine’s President said further.
The Bulgarian Prime Minister’s gift to the Ukrainian President was a replica of Khan Koubrat’s sword. Zelenskyy received the symbolic gift together with the message that Bulgaria sides unconditionally with Ukraine in this unjust and brutal military aggression and takes the side of human life and dignity, freedom, democracy and international legal order. He underlined that the Bulgarian government and the majority in Parliament work unswervingly to ensure the maximum we can for political, military, diplomatic, humanitarian and logistic support for Ukraine.
“Russia cannot win this war!” Acad. Denkov said firmly. He assured that one day there would be a tribunal for all war crimes. The Prime Minister called on the international democratic community to stay united in its support for Ukraine, so that this day would come sooner.
Bulgaria remains committed to the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula to achieve just, full and lasting peace based on the principles of the UN Charter and international law. Bulgaria supports the arrangement of a summit within the Peace Formula. The Bulgarian institutions are ready to cooperate in the context of the established International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children who have been unlawfully deported and forcibly displaced to Russia, as Bulgaria is one of the founders of the Coalition.
