Former Bulgarian Finance Minister Asen Vasilev has assured Wednesday that the country was supplying fuel to the Armed Forces of Ukraine shortly after the beginning of the Russian invasion of the territory.
Thus, he stressed that Bulgaria had become «one of the largest exporters of diesel to Ukraine, which made it possible to regularly cover up to 40 percent of the country’s needs for this fuel».
Vasilev explained in declarations to the German newspaper ‘Die Welt’ that the product came from the refineries of the company Lukoil Neftochim Burgas and clarified that the company was asked «to obtain a greater surplus of the fuel with the intention of supplying the needs of the Ukrainian Army after a representative of the Government complained in April that Kiev was running out of crude oil».
These deliveries were allegedly made secretly and through foreign intermediary companies, although several high-ranking Ukrainian officials have confirmed that «at vital moments diesel was received from Bulgaria».
Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov himself has recently confirmed that the country delivered fuel and ammunition to Ukraine. «Most of the crude oil coming to Ukraine came from Bulgaria. Despite the fact that there were no direct deliveries, what was coming through Poland, Romania, the United States and the United Kingdom was Bulgarian production,» he has maintained.
«We can’t say openly that we were supplying it, but these deliveries were key to the war. About 40 percent of the diesel that came to Ukraine was Bulgarian production. This is how we helped them, because you can’t fight a war without fuel,» he has said.
However, the Russian Embassy in Bulgaria has denied that this supply was produced from Lukoil Neftochim Burgas, which then belonged entirely to the Russian company LUKOIL. The diplomatic legation has pointed out that «fuel from the Lukoil plant was not sent to Ukraine» and has clarified that these supplies «must have come from other Bulgarian producers».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
