​​​​​​​ATHENS

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said Tuesday that the question is not if, but when Ukraine will become a member of NATO, according to the Bulgarian state-run BTA news agency.

“And the answer will depend as well as on the development on the battlefield, on the possibility to settle peace, sustainable and just peace. Of course, Ukraine is a sovereign country and has the freedom to decide,” he said in a speech in Athens at an international forum on sustainable peace.

Maintaining that the war in Ukraine led to enormous challenges for Bulgaria, the EU and the world in general, Radev said: “Every day of the Russian war in Ukraine is a growing risk to world peace. This war has become already a war of attrition, of global economic clash, generating tremendous human suffering and material damage, draining our economic and social systems, feeding political instability and populism.”

Arguing that concerned parties to the war -- Russia, Ukraine and the West – have underestimated each other and paid hefty prices, he urged diplomacy and negotiations to end the conflict.

Particularly on the matter of possible troop deployment to Ukraine by NATO, Radev stressed that “on the one hand, I can understand the concerns of some political leaders that if we don’t support Ukraine with everything, including troops, we betray our values. On the other hand, we have to be clear that NATO should and will not enter this war, especially with troops on the ground."

Asked about his expectations for the admission of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area by land, he warned, “I believe that keeping Bulgaria and Romania out of Schengen does not contribute to the stability and prosperity of Europe, nor to the military mobility we need in times of crisis and war."​​​​​​​