"At the beginning of war, one third of the weapons used in Ukraine was coming from Bulgaria," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a visit to Bulgaria's largest state-owned defense plant, VMZ.
A number of media outlets presented this statement as if a third of all foreign military aid to Ukraine came from Bulgaria. In fact, von der Leyen was referring to ammunition. In the first half of 2022, Bulgarian warehouses covered about a third of Ukraine's ammunition needs.
At that time, Sofia's official position was against open supplies to Ukraine. But Bulgaria still transferred weapons through various means. The United States and Great Britain financed the purchase of ammunition, and Bulgarian warehouses became one of the main sources of weapons while defense plants around the world were in a state of suspended animation.
"We knew that Bulgaria had significant reserves of the necessary shells. Therefore, President Zelensky sent me with a diplomatic mission to negotiate their purchase," recalled then-Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
This assistance became particularly critical in the second half of 2022, when intense fighting and counteroffensives required huge amounts of artillery ammunition. Bulgaria’s ability to cover a third of these needs significantly helped the Ukrainian army.
However, the supply of weapons from warehouses is only one component of the deeper partnership between Ukraine and Bulgaria. Currently, their defense factories work in several shifts for our Defense Forces and help the domestic defense industry in some way.
Lost heritage
During the Cold War, Bulgaria was one of the key producers of weapons for the Warsaw Pact. In the 1980s, the defense industry accounted for up to 10% of the country's GDP and exported over $1 billion worth of weapons annually. The defense-industrial complex (DIC) employed hundreds of thousands of people.
Bulgarian factories produced small arms, cartridges, grenade launchers, ammunition of various calibers, repaired armored vehicles and produced components for air defense and MLRS.
But after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, traditional markets disappeared, and the country was left with $800 million worth of weapons in warehouses that had no one to sell. The economic crisis forced the government to cut orders, remove subsidies, and lay off tens of thousands of workers.
To keep the industry afloat, Bulgaria began illegally shipping weapons to Africa and the Middle East. The state-owned logistics company Kintex played a key role in this. According to Forbes, it sold more than $100 million worth of weapons.
“I didn't know where she was being sent, and it wasn't my problem,” the then director of Kintex, whose name was not disclosed, later admitted.
In the 2000s, Bulgaria tried to reform the defense industry: it partially privatized enterprises, tried to transfer them to civilian channels, and gradually integrate them into the NATO system.
But the lack of a clear strategy and stable state support led to the bankruptcy of many factories. At the same time, some players managed to adapt. For example, Electron Progress, which deals with sensor and optical systems, reoriented itself to cooperation with NATO countries and the civilian sector.
With the outbreak of the war in Donbas in 2014, Ukraine approached Bulgaria with an offer to purchase weapons. EMCO, a company specializing in the production of Soviet ammunition and artillery modernization, became one of the main suppliers.
According to Bellingcat investigators, Ukraine received tens of thousands of munitions from EMCO — from under-barrel grenades to rocket-propelled grenades — with a total value of about 25 million euros. According to them, the Russian GRU tried to sabotage the deal.
Moscow's interference continued to be felt. Since 2014, ammunition warehouses and factories in Bulgaria have been exploding. According to prosecutor's office spokeswoman Siika Mileva, a significant part of the weapons stored there were destined for Ukraine and Georgia. In 2015, EMCO owner Emilian Gebrev was poisoned — and the investigation again led to the Russian trail.
Despite all this, cooperation between Ukraine and Bulgaria did not stop. Bulgarian weapons remained attractive due to their quality and relatively low price. In 2020, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine even abandoned domestic Molot mortars, preferring Bulgarian EM-120s from EMCO.
In addition, Ukraine assisted Bulgaria with the repair of R-27 air-to-air missiles, which only strengthened the partnership.
Hyacinth, carrot and boot
After the outbreak of the Great War, the topic of Bulgarian aid to Ukraine repeatedly became the subject of discussion in the media. Initially, Sofia agreed to repair 80 tanks for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In response, Russia revoked licenses that allowed Bulgarian enterprises to service Soviet helicopters. Later, the issue of supplying heavy weapons and ammunition was discussed. Kyiv insisted on the transfer of tanks and artillery, but Sofia refused, stating that it was ready to provide only small arms and some ammunition.
Despite this, Bulgarian weapons began to appear more and more often at the front: grenade launchers, shots for them, machine guns, mortars, MANPADS, and, of course, artillery and rocket shells.
The war actually gave a new impetus to the Bulgarian defense industry. According to former Prime Minister Kirill Petkov, in just 164 days Bulgaria transferred $2.7 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine, and exports increased by 200%. Ursula von de Leyen noted that Bulgaria is the only country in the European Union where the largest private employer is a defense company.
The rapid growth in production had a downside. Explosions occurred at the Arsenal and EMCO factories, where ammunition is made, in October 2022 and August 2023. "Bulgaria has remained vulnerable since the Cold War and created comfortable conditions for GRU agents," warned EMCO owner Gebrev, emphasizing the risks of Russian interference.
Despite the sabotage, supplies only increased. Along with ammunition, Sofia began transferring equipment.
Thus, after a long political tug-of-war — first due to the president's veto, and then due to the search for funding — Ukraine received over a hundred decommissioned BTR-60s. Later, they were joined by 2S1 "Gvozdyka" self-propelled artillery mounts.
Bulgaria is increasingly investing in the development of the defense industry, understanding its role in modern security realities. This explains Ursula von der Leyen's visit to the VMZ plant, where they plan to expand the production of Soviet-caliber ammunition and establish the production of NATO-standard shells.
For this, Sofia is counting on funding from the European SAFE program. This is a program that allows EU countries to take out preferential loans for joint weapons purchases, within its framework it is planned to use 150 billion euros. Previously, Defense wrote about how and for what they plan to use SAFE.
International partners are also joining large-scale projects. Rheinmetall, together with Bulgaria, plans to build two factories for the production of gunpowder, artillery shells, and drones. Total investments exceed 1 billion euros.
As a result, the largest gunpowder production plant in Europe should appear in Bulgaria, which will significantly strengthen the defense potential of the entire continent.
In 2025, the international International Armored Group (IAG) also announced the opening of a Bulgarian factory for the production of armored vehicles.
Bulgarian factories have also found their place in Ukrainian production chains. For example, our factories never produced artillery ammunition until 2022. From the AP material it is known that at least at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, domestic factories exported ammunition to Bulgaria for filling with explosives and returned it. This is a complex technological process that did not exist in Ukraine at that time.
The Bulgarian defense-industrial complex, which experienced decline and loss of markets after the Cold War, has today once again acquired strategic importance for Europe. However, this time against a former ally.
Bulgaria played a key role in supporting Ukraine, becoming a supplier of Soviet ammunition and weapons in early 2014 and 2022, which helped close a critical shortage of shells during the most difficult months of the war.
This paves the way for the construction of one of the largest weapons forges in Europe.