The Bulgarian Ministry of Defense had to ask NATO to provide financial means to deliver 100 Bulgarian armored personnel carriers to Ukraine, and for now the transfer of these weapons to Kyiv has been postponed, Euractiv said on Tuesday.

"Bulgaria is delaying the delivery of 100 armoured personnel carriers to the Ukrainian army because the Defence Ministry has requested that NATO cover the transport costs, MPs from the ruling majority in Sofia told Euractiv Bulgaria," the portal said.

"Bulgaria can help, but this is not happening at the required pace, and I hope this will improve. We voted on the decision for armoured personnel carriers almost three months ago, but in three months, we cannot transport a hundred APCs from Sofia to Ruse (a city at the Danube River in North-Eastern Bulgaria)," MP Ivaylo Mirchev from the We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria ruling coalition said on Monday.

An agreement on the free provision of Bulgarian armored vehicles to Ukraine was signed at the ministerial level on August 8 in Sofia and in Kyiv on November 13. But in the middle of January, the Bulgarian National Radio reported that Bulgaria was not yet able to transfer the promised armored personnel carriers to Ukraine, because it was counting on NATO allies to pay for the delivery.

Euractiv said Bulgaria previously promised to supply Ukraine with USSR-era weapons - armored personnel carriers, parts for S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, old S-300 missiles, shells and mortars.