Zelenskyy and Bulgarian PM discuss assistance for energy system and defence cooperation

On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that he had spoken on the phone with Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Jelyazkov.

The president of Ukraine said that he and the Bulgarian prime minister discussed ways of strengthening energy cooperation and outlined steps intended to boost energy security throughout the region.

They also discussed cooperation in the defence sector, as Zelenskyy tweeted.

"The European Union's SAFE instrument provides many opportunities for this, and I proposed to the prime minister joint production projects, including those aimed at enhancing security in the Black Sea. Bulgaria is interested in cooperation with Ukraine. We agreed that our teams will work out all the details," Zelenskyy wrote on X.

Last week, Bulgaria's parliament voted to ban fuel exports to EU member states after the US imposed sanctions on the Russian oil company Lukoil.

Earlier, the Bulgarian Ministry of Internal Affairs accused Russian agents of cooperating with migrant smugglers.