Politico reported that Bulgarian President Rumen Radev recently criticized the European Union (EU)'s support for Ukraine, and affirmed that Kiev is unlikely to win since the start of the conflict with Moscow in 2022.
In a Facebook post, Mr. Radev said that Europe does not have an independent vision for ending the war and establishing peace, but instead continues to invest in a goal that he said has been failed for a long time.
The Bulgarian president also affirmed that adding weapons would not only not help Ukraine get closer to victory, but also increase the number of casualties and severely damage infrastructure.
Mr. Radev commented that in fact, Europe is afraid of "the return of peace", because this will make the public pay attention to the simmering crises within countries.
According to Politico, Mr. Radev - former air force commander, elected president in 2016 and re-elected in 2021 - is one of the few European leaders to maintain a soft stance on Russia. Along with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Mr. Radev often opposes sending military aid to Kiev.
Mr. Radev repeatedly repeated similar arguments to the Kremlin, who called Ukraine's prospect of victory over Russia "unfeasible" in May last year, and accused European leaders of causing "hundreds of thousands of victims" in Ukraine in January for encouraging Kiev to launch counter-offensive campaigns.
Radev's Russian stance once caused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to respond harshly during a live broadcast between the two people at the Presidential Palace in Sofia (Bulgaria) in 2023.
