Ukraine war: Bulgaria urges Europe to talk with Russia

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev urged Europe on Wednesday to start talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, warning that military support for Kyiv would not be enough and that Moscow's nuclear threats should be taken seriously.

“We must start talking with Russia,” Radev said in Brussels during a conference organised by Euronews. He said “the most important is to prepare the conditions for peace”.

Radev said there was “a limit” to delivering weapons and argued that peace would be achieved “by diplomacy, not by delivering weapons”. He said Ukraine was increasingly unable to protect itself from Russian strikes.

Radev, who ended Bulgaria's military support for Ukraine after his election win in April, also raised what he called the nuclear “risk” from Moscow. “How much can we press Russia without Russia reacting with something else?” he said.

NATO on Tuesday condemned what it called “irresponsible nuclear rhetoric” by Russia after Moscow warned it would “deploy its entire arsenal” if the alliance threatened its Kaliningrad exclave.