The Defense Committee of the Bulgarian parliament has approved a draft decision on the transfer of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles in need of repair to Ukraine, so that Ukrainians can bring them into a suitable for use in air defense, The Sofia Globe agency reports.

The draft decision, tabled on September 26 and signed by Boiko Borissov, Delyan Peevski, Hristo Ivanov and Kiril Petkov, also provides for Bulgaria to give Ukraine 5.56 calibre cartridges from Interior Ministry stores that are surplus to requirements.

Those supporting the draft decision said that the S-300 missile systems had been deemed to be unserviceable by the military and while it was not possible to repair the missiles in Bulgaria, Ukraine had the capacity to use them.

“Our country does not have the necessary capacity to independently repair these munitions. Their use by our army would create a serious risk to the lives of Bulgarian servicemen. Unlike Bulgaria, Ukraine has declared that it has the capacity to put such defective munitions into service and have them serve of the Ukrainian army,” the signatories said in an explanatory memorandum appended to the draft decision.

Supplying the missiles would improve the defence of Ukrainian cities against Russian air attacks, while the cartridges could be used by Ukrainian soldiers equipped with NATO small arms.