Bulgaria–Ukraine relations are foreign relations between the

Republic of Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Both countries established diplomatic relations in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. Bulgaria has an embassy in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and a Consulate-General in

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

. Ukraine has an embassy in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

and a Consulate-General in

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city ** Varna Province ** Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna ** Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis * Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy * Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia Asia * Var ...

. Bulgaria supports Ukraine's

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

membership.

Bulgarians in Ukraine Bulgarians in Ukraine (, ''Bǎlgari v Ukrayna''; , ''Bolhary v Ukraïni'') make up the fifth biggest minority in the country and primarily reside in southern Ukraine. Bulgarians make up a significant minority of the Odesa Oblast, especially the ci ...

are a significant minority in the country, being the fifth largest minority and residing primarily in the southwestern regions.

History

Early period

Relations between the people living in Bulgaria and Ukraine go back thousands of years, and parts of present-day Ukraine and Bulgaria were simultaneously controlled by multiple empires throughout history such as the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. An important early result of the contact between the two regions was the adoption of the

Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, Mongolic, Uralic languages, Uralic, C ...

, which was developed during the 9th century AD at the

Preslav Literary School The Preslav Literary School (), also known as the "Pliska Literary School" or "Pliska-Preslav Literary school" was the first literary school in the medieval First Bulgarian Empire. It was established by Boris I in 886 in Bulgaria's capital, Pli ...

in the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire (; was a medieval state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars, led by Asparuh of Bulgaria, Asparuh, moved south to the northe ...

during the reign of

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

Simeon I the Great. The script was brought to Kyivan Rus’ at the end of the first millennium, along with

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

and the

Old Bulgarian Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic subgroup of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European ...

. After the Middle Ages, both Bulgaria and the Ukrainian lands of the dissolved Kyivan Rus' would be incorporated in subsequent empires, with the former being taken over by the Ottoman Empire and the latter initially incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and, later, conquered by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. During this time, there were several military engagements between the empires which also saw direct collaboration and clashes between Bulgarian soldiers and

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

. In 1620, the Bulgarian city of

(then in the Ottoman Empire) was burned by invading Zaporizhian Cossacks as part of the

Polish–Ottoman Wars Polish–Ottoman Wars can refer to one of the several conflicts between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire: * Crusade of Varna (1443–1444) * Polish–Ottoman War (1485–1503) ** Jan Olbracht's Moldavian expedition of ...

. Later, after the Russian takeover of Ukraine, Bulgarians began to settle in the Russian Empire and some of them were assigned into military divisions by the Tsarist authorities, including the Bulgarian Hussar Division. However, due to understaffing and other problems, many of the Bulgarians deserted and instead joined the ranks of the

Zaporizhian Sich The Zaporozhian Sich (, , ; also ) was a semi-autonomous polity and proto-state of Zaporozhian Cossacks that existed between the 16th to 18th centuries, for the latter part of that period as an autonomous stratocratic state within the Cossa ...

, a proto-state in southern Ukraine which then began fielding its own Bulgarian cavalry division. At the closing of the 18th century, larger scale settlement of Bulgarians in Russian-controlled Ukraine continued, and particularly significant waves of emigration began after the Russo-Turkish Wars of 1806–1812 and 1828–1829. After arriving, the Bulgarians founded their own towns, such as

Bolhrad Bolhrad (, ; ; , ) is a small city in Odesa Oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, in the historical region of Budjak. It is the administrative center of Bolhrad Raion (district) and hosts the administration of Bolhrad urban hromada, one of ...

(1819) and

Comrat Comrat (, ; , ) is a city and municipality in Moldova and the capital of the autonomous region of Gagauzia. It is located in the south of the country, on the Ialpug River. In 2014, Comrat's population was 20,113, of which the vast majority are ...

, and around 64 villages. In 1856, after the Treaty of Paris, the region of

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

(south-west to present-day Ukraine) was divided with the southwestern parts, including Bolhrad,

Izmail Izmail (, ; ; , or ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Danube river in Odesa Oblast in south-western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Izmail Raion, one of seven distr ...

and

Kiliia Kiliia or Kilia (, ; ; ) is a city in Izmail Raion, Odesa Oblast Odesa Oblast (), also referred to as Odeshchyna (Одещина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern ...

, incorporated into

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

(since 1861 –

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

), and the northeastern ones, centered on

, remaining in the Russian Empire. A Bulgarian

gymnasium (school) ''Gymnasium'' (and Gymnasium (school)#By country, variations of the word) is a term in various European languages for a secondary school that prepares students for higher education at a university. It is comparable to the US English term ''U ...

was founded in Bolhrad on 28 June 1858, which had a significant effect on the development of Bulgarian education and culture and was the first modern Bulgarian gymnasium. As the Ottoman Empire continued to weaken and gradually lose territory, Bulgarian expatriates in Ukraine and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

agitated for independence and many Bulgarian intellectuals returned to the newly established

Principality of Bulgaria The Principality of Bulgaria () was a vassal state under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. It was established by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. After the Russo-Turkish War ended with a Russian victory, the Treaty of San Stefano was signed ...

to help set up the new state. Many people who would subsequently hold political office in Bulgaria received much of their education in Russian-controlled Ukraine: for example, Todor Burmov, the first Bulgarian Prime Minister was a graduate of the Kyiv Theological Academy.

20th century

Modern relations between Bulgaria and Ukraine as independent nations began only in the final stages of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, when the

Kingdom of Bulgaria The Tsardom of Bulgaria (), also known as the Third Bulgarian Tsardom (), usually known in English as the Kingdom of Bulgaria, or simply Bulgaria, was a constitutional monarchy in Southeastern Europe, which was established on , when the Bulgaria ...

established official diplomatic relations with the newly independent

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, as a result of the February Revolution, ...

, following the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

on February 9, 1918.Україна в міжнародних відносинах. Енциклопедичний словник-довідник. Випуск 2, Предметно-тематична частина: Д-Й / Відп. ред. М. М. Варварцев. НАН України. Інститут історії України. — К.: Ін-т історії України, 2010. — 252 с.
/ref> That same year, there was an exchange of embassies between the two countries. This mutual recognition did not, however, last long, as by this point Bulgaria was still involved in the war with the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

, whose preoccupations with Ukraine took precedence and led to the failure of developing robust trade relations.Нариси історії української революції 1917—1921 років [Текст]: у 2 кн./редкол.: В. А. Смолій (голова) та ін.; Нац. акад. наук України, Ін-т історії України. — К.: Наукова думка, 2011. Кн. 1/[В. Ф. Верстюк (кер.) та ін.]. — 2011. — 390 с. — Бібліогр.: с. 372—387. — 1000 экз.
/ref> On 24 September 1918, following the Bulgarian collapse at the

Vardar offensive The Vardar offensive () was a World War I military operation, fought between 15 and 29 September 1918. The operation took place during the final stage of the Balkans Campaign (World War I), Balkans Campaign. On 15 September, a combined Allied A ...

, Bulgaria signed the armistice of Salonica, ending its participation in World War I. After the defeat, the country fell under the French zone of occupation, and the French authorities refused to recognize the Ukrainian embassy in Bulgaria as an official diplomatic representation. The Bulgarian government, in turn, actually ceased to recognize this diplomatic representation, and by 1920 the embassy no longer operated. The Ukrainian People's Republic was at the time in the middle of a war with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and other groups, and the Soviets had overrun much of the country by 1920, which led to a subsequent invasion of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

by the Soviets. After the Soviets were stopped at

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, a new peace treaty was signed, the

Peace of Riga The Treaty of Riga was signed in Riga, Latvia, on between Poland on one side and Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine on the other, ending the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921). The chief negotiators o ...

, which led to the consolidation of the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

as part of the

, with parts of Western Ukraine going instead to Poland. Bulgaria refused to open official diplomatic channels with the Soviet Union until the 1930s, and thus Bulgarian and Ukrainian contacts ceased. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Bulgaria was a member of the

Axis Powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

, but unlike most of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

's allies, it did not take part in the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, which initially overran the entirety of the Ukrainian SSR. The only contact between the Bulgarian and Soviet forces at first consisted only in skirmishes over the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

as the Soviets harassed Bulgarian shipping convoys. By 1944, however, the Axis had suffered major setbacks and following the defection of Romania, Soviet forces arrived at the Bulgarian border and began occupying the country. In the following years, and during the entirety of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, Bulgaria and Ukraine were thus both part of the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

, the former as a Soviet

satellite state A satellite state or dependent state is a country that is formally independent but under heavy political, economic, and military influence or control from another country. The term was coined by analogy to planetary objects orbiting a larger ob ...

and the latter as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union.

Present day

The fall of Communism in eastern Europe beginning in 1989 would usher in a new era for Bulgarian-Ukrainian relations. In November 1989 the Communist regime in Bulgaria was overthrown, and two years later, following the

Belovezha Accords The Agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (officially), or unofficially the Minsk Agreement and best known as the Belovezha Accords, is the agreement declaring that the Soviet Union (USSR) had Dissolution of the So ...

, the Soviet Union was dissolved and Ukraine became once again an independent country in December 1991. Bulgaria was one of the first countries to recognize Ukraine's independence on December 5, 1991 , and established diplomatic relations with it on December 13 of the same year. Bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Ukraine are built on the basis of the Treaty on Friendly Relations and Cooperation (signed on October 5, 1992, in force since March 2, 1994) and the Declaration on the further development and deepening of cooperation between the Republic of Bulgaria and Ukraine, signed by the presidents of Bulgaria and Ukraine in 1998. The post-communist period saw Bulgaria and Ukraine engaged in numerous international organizations. The deepening of Ukrainian-Bulgarian ties was facilitated by the official visits of the Chairman of the People's Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria to Ukraine (June 2003) and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to Bulgaria (January 2004), the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Simeon Sakskoburggotski (May 2004) and Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria

Ivailo Kalfin Ivaylo Georgiev Kalfin (; born 30 May 1964) is a Bulgarian politician. A three-term deputy, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria and Deputy Prime Minister from 2005 to 2009 in the Stanishev Cabinet. Kalfin was a Member of European Parli ...

(November 29–30, 2005). Kyiv congratulated Sofia on its official accession to NATO in 2004 and the signing of the Agreement on Bulgaria's Accession to the EU in 2005. Bulgaria, in turn, proved its readiness to contribute to the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. Bulgaria supported the Ukrainian position following the 2014 annexation of Crimea by the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and the subsequent War in Donbass, with Bulgarian President

Rumen Radev Rumen Georgiev Radev (, born 18 June 1963) is a Bulgarian politician and former major general who has been the President of Bulgaria since 2017. Radev previously served as higher commander of the Bulgarian Air Force. He won the 2016 Bulgarian p ...

calling the annexation a violation of international law. Bulgaria became a strong supporter of Ukraine after the country was invaded by Russia in 2022. The country accepted up to 500,000 Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war. Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov visited

in April 2022 as a show of support to the country. Bulgaria became a critical supplier of diesel, weapons and ammunition to Ukraine in the early stages of the war, and Bulgaria took a leading role in the imposition of sanctions against Russia on the initiative of Prime Minister Petkov and Finance Minister Asen Vasilev during a meeting with other EU delegates. Bulgarian weapons factories have also been repairing damaged Ukrainian tanks.

Economic ties

Bulgarian exports to Ukraine vary in the range of 250-350 million

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s per year. The principal Bulgarian exports to Ukraine are fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, machinery and electrical products. In terms of Ukrainian exports, they hover around 500-600 million euros per year. Ukrainian exports to Bulgaria are concentrated in concentrated in semi-finished products of iron or non-alloy steels, sunflower and ammonia.

Resident diplomatic missions

* Bulgaria has an embassy in

and consulate-general in

. * Ukraine has an embassy in

. File:Embassy of Bulgaria in Kyiv.jpg, Embassy of Bulgaria in Kyiv File:Embassy of Ukraine, Sofia 2020-05-18.jpg, Embassy of Ukraine in Sofia

References

External links

Ukraine embassy in Sofia (Embassypages.com)

Bulgarian embassy in Kyiv (in Bulgarian only)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulgaria-Ukraine relations Foreign relations of Bulgaria Foreign relations of Ukraine