Bulgarian president says Ukraine’s victory over Russia is ‘impossible’

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has described Ukraine’s victory over Russia as “impossible” and linked the two-year war with Russia to the assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Radev noted that the war in Ukraine could have negative consequences for all sides. The Bulgarian president warned of possible demographic and economic consequences for Ukraine and Europe if the war continues.

“Every day that this war continues is disastrous for Ukraine, Russia, and all of us. This inevitably affects all elections—in Europe, in the USA, and everywhere in the world. We will choose in this and the next election between war and peace. Every citizen must comprehend  this,” Radev stated.

A journalist asked what signal the attempted assassination of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico sent to Europe, and the Bulgarian president spoke of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Euractiv reported.

“It is unacceptable to present the continuation of the war and the impossible victory over Russia as the only possible solution,” declared Radev.

He said it is extremely dangerous for passions between Russia and Ukraine to flare up in Europe, as well as for “voices for peace to be greeted with shots,” but he did not comment on the profile of the Slovak citizen arrested for attempted murder, which leads to radical pro-Russian groups.

“The attempted assassination of a European prime minister by a radicalized fanatic because of his support for peace is indicative of this ingrained intolerance of dissent and hatred. Many politicians, parties, and media have contributed to this with their portrayal of every different voice as pro-Russian, which is extremely unfair and leads to all these negative consequences,” Radev said.

The Bulgarian president warned that if the war continues, Ukraine will be a “demographically devastated country, with completely destroyed infrastructure, industry, and production, and this will have extremely serious consequences not only for Ukraine but also for the whole of Europe.”.

Radev advocated for political efforts towards peace rather than the use of weapons, without saying how to find a common ground for talks with the Russians, which have just launched a new wave of the invasion and captured more Ukrainian territories in the east and north-east.

“With weapons, we will achieve a similar outcome.” We have to realize that. The difference will be thousands of human casualties and a devastated country (Ukraine) for which we will have to pay for recovery,” he said, adding that “it is inevitable.”

Rumen Radev is a pro-Russian politician and a strong opponent of military aid to Ukraine. He has also been involved in scandals where he called the war against Ukraine a “conflict,”  thus repeating Moscow’s narrative.