Prime Minister Rumen Radev confirmed that he met with Kyrylo Budanov – the Chief of Staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The conversation took place in Sofia on October 8, and the visit of the Ukrainian representative was at his request and in complete confidentiality due to security measures. This was announced by the Council of Ministers a day later.
According to Radev, the two discussed the possibilities for ending the war in Ukraine. The Council of Ministers specified that Budanov presented the views of the Ukrainian side on achieving a peaceful solution.
Radev: This is what we are doing right now
„It is clear that the efforts to restore peace in Ukraine deserve our support and the cessation of hostilities is of exceptional interest not only to the warring parties, but to all of us - for the whole of Europe, because we continue to pay an extremely high social and economic price“, Radev said.
He called for the use of all possible channels of communication and dialogue. „It is high time to give way to the full potential of diplomacy and to use all possible channels of communication and dialogue. This is what we are doing right now“, the Prime Minister told journalists in Plovdiv.
Radev did not specify additional specific parameters of the conversation, including whether possible formats for negotiations or security guarantees were discussed. What has been confirmed so far is that the main topic was the peaceful settlement of the conflict and the role of diplomatic contacts.
The Foreign Ministry was not informed
Budanov's visits were not announced in advance. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told bTV that it was not informed about the visit and that the Ukrainian representative did not meet with Minister Velislava Petrova.
The meeting between Radev and Budanov took place against the backdrop of tensions surrounding the commercial ships hit by drones in the Bulgarian exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea. On this issue, the Prime Minister stated that at the moment there is no evidence of the origin of the drones and that no remains of them were found during the inspection. “We have no evidence to do so categorically“, Radev said.
Sources: nova.bg, btvnovinite.bg, bntnews.bg