Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Zafirov, also the president of the coalition partner Bulgarian Socialist Party, has announced that the two nuclear reactors at the country's Belene Nuclear Power Plant will not be sold to Ukraine, according to Sofia News Agency.
He said the reactors are critical to Bulgaria's energy security and economic independence and that the decision was made collectively by the ruling coalition.
Zafirov said Selling the reactors would be a grave mistake, particularly given rising global energy prices and ongoing energy sector instability.
Talks to sell the two Russian-made VVER-1000 reactors, originally intended for Bulgaria's unfinished Belene Nuclear Power Plant, began in 2023.
Ukraine's parliament approved a plan in February to purchase reactors for the expansion of the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant.
The sale, which had previously been supported by GERB, Bulgaria's largest party in the ruling coalition, was strongly opposed by the coalition's pro-Russian partner, the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
(Anadolu Agency, April 16, 2025)