A scandal has erupted in the Bulgarian parliament over Budanov's unofficial visit to the country

The unofficial visit to Bulgaria by Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, sparked sharp political reactions in the Bulgarian parliament. Representatives of several political parties stated that they had not received any official information about the Ukrainian official’s visit and demanded that the government explain the purpose of his stay in the country.

News of Kirill Budanov’s visit to Bulgaria emerged after a post by Tsvetan Tsvetanov, leader of the “Republicans for Bulgaria” party, who shared a photo from a meeting with the Ukrainian official.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the “Revival” and “Movement for Rights and Freedoms” parties, Kostadin Kostadinov and Delian Peevski, stated that they had no official information about this visit and demanded explanations from the government.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the agency had not been informed of Budanov’s arrival. They also noted that no meeting with the foreign minister took place. The country’s Ministry of Defense expressed a similar position.

According to available reports, Kirill Budanov may have spent about 20 hours in Sofia: he arrived on Wednesday and flew to the United States on Thursday.

Kostadin Kostadinov, leader of the “Revival” party, stated that information about Budanov’s stay in Bulgaria had become known the day before, but it had to be verified.

“We learned about this visit yesterday, but we had to verify the information... Today, this information came from a completely reliable source, so we will ask for clarification today regarding the exact purpose of Budanov’s visit to Bulgaria, since no one told us anything,” Kostadinov said.

According to him, other parliamentary factions were likely also not informed about the Ukrainian representative’s arrival.

Kostadinov also pointed out the timing of Budanov’s visit, which coincided with a meeting of Bulgaria’s Consultative Council on National Security, convened following drone attacks on two merchant ships in the Black Sea.

It should be noted that, according to the context provided in the publication, Sofia did not name the party responsible for these attacks, although Ukraine claimed Russia was involved.

Kostadinov linked the Ukrainian official’s visit to discussions on approaches to achieving peace in the Black Sea. He criticized the government for, in his view, failing to explain to the Bulgarian public the circumstances surrounding the Ukrainian representative’s visit.

“While the Consultative Council meeting was discussing specific wording on how to seek common ground to achieve peace in the Black Sea, we are welcoming here the right-hand man of the leader of one of the two warring states. To me, frankly speaking, this is a manifestation of very serious political hypocrisy,” stated the leader of the pro-Russian “Revival” party.

He also claimed that the visit calls into question Bulgaria’s foreign policy priorities and national security issues.

Separately, Kostadinov mentioned Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev, suggesting that the government is not publicizing information about the visit due to a possible negative reaction from voters.

“I understand why Mr. Rumen Radev (the Bulgarian prime minister—ed.) is hiding Kirill Budanov’s visit to Bulgaria—because his voters won’t like it. However, the truth must be told to Bulgarian citizens, especially since we will all pay the price and face the possible consequences of this visit,” Kostadinov asserted.

In conclusion, the leader of the “Revival” party announced that he would send an official request to the government demanding information about the purpose of Kirill Budanov’s visit and the topics of the talks.

This was reported by the Bulgarian publication Nova.

Earlier, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, responded to the latest Russian attacks on civilians. He addressed the Russian pilots launching missiles at Ukrainian cities, stating that they would not be able to avoid responsibility by citing orders from their commanders.

Ukraine may offer its international partners cooperation in the field of intercepting jet-powered drones. According to Kirill Budanov, Ukrainian developments in this area require significant funding to scale up, so they can be developed jointly with partners.