Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy savaged his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev in a bruising televised exchange in Sofia on Thursday, in which he opened up with both barrels against Radev’s opposition to arming Ukraine.
The flustered Bulgarian president, visibly taken aback by Zelenskyy’s indignation, asked TV cameras to leave the room in the presidential palace where the meeting was being filmed.
Zelenskyy was visiting Bulgaria largely to meet the pro-NATO and pro-EU administration of Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, which has supported arms exports to Ukraine and is also exploring ways to sell civilian nuclear equipment.
The meeting with Radev, a former air force chief who is more sympathetic to Russia and equivocal on NATO, went even worse than expected.
Gathered on each side of a long wooden table, the khaki-clad Ukrainian delegation sat stony faced, occasionally grimacing and taking notes, opposite Radev’s team as the Bulgarian president explained that there was “no military solution” and that “more and more weapons will not solve it.”
Zelenskyy delivered his response with measured scorn. “God forbid some tragedy should befall you and you should be in my place,” he said. “And if people with shared values do not help, what will you do? You would say: Putin, please grab Bulgarian territory?”
“No, you, as a real president, I am sure you would not allow a compromise with your independence. It is your right not to support aid to Ukraine. But I would really like you to understand me correctly,” he noted with barbed irony, as a cowed Radev intermittently took refuge in the note paper in front of him.
Zelenskyy lambasted Radev for largely describing Moscow’s invasion as a “conflict” rather than a war, and for vague assertions that the war is spilling over and “expanding its spatial size.”
Roundly brushing aside Radev’s suggestion of a diplomatic fix, Zelenskyy stressed the Kremlin had launched a “war of annihilation against Ukrainians, not other countries” and said Sofia’s government — at odds with Radev — was right to supply arms.
“I also want to tell you, whatever your army has in terms of munitions, it will not be enough to fight with the Russian Federation. You don’t have a bad army, your people are good but it would not be enough to fight against 160 million people. That’s why it’s good to give [weapons] so [we] can defend [ourselves] and war does not come to you,” he said.
“Ukraine and NATO should have shared values. It can’t be otherwise,” Zelenskyy added. “You cannot support Russia and support a balancing position because Russia wants to destroy NATO, wants to destroy Europe and the European Union; these are their goals. Do you get me?”
Radev finally suggested that he had a proposal, but asked the TV cameras to depart before continuing.
Source : POLITICO
