War in Ukraine Update #2

BULGARIA-UKRAINE UPDATES

43,000 Ukrainians have entered Bulgaria since Feb. 24 and over 23,000 remain within Bulgaria according to Sofia Globe. Over 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian forces entered the country. 

Ukrainian refugees have started arriving in Blagoevgrad and more are on the way. FC Pirin – Blagoegrad’s soccer team – is taking their 30-person bus to the Moldovan-Ukrainian border to bring more to Blagoevgrad. Ilko Stoyanov, the mayor of Blagoevgrad, has authorized the usage of 141 vacant apartment units to serve as housing for refugees.

The U.S. Embassy in Sofia has launched a new website in partnership with AUBG, America for Bulgaria Foundation (ABF), the American College of Sofia, NuBoyana Studios, and Muzeiko called United With Ukraine. The site acts as a portal for contact information for initiatives that are going on within Bulgaria for those displaced from Ukraine. 

Bulgarian Red Cross has set up donation booths around Blagoevgrad, too. 

WAR UPDATES

There has been heavy fighting in the southern city of Mykolaiv: hospitals and apartments have also been targets. The mayor of Melitopol was kidnapped, and Ukrainian intelligence thwarted a Russian plan to manufacture a crisis in Chernobyl. Most major cities still remain under Ukrainian control except Kherson. 

Russia’s U.N. ambassador has accused the U.S. of funding and supervising biological weapon programs in Ukraine. Russian propaganda is becoming more assertive and extreme. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have been restricted or banned throughout Russia. Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, is in the process of being labeled an “extremist organization” by the Kremlin. Russian tourists in Egypt and Thailand have had trouble getting back to Russia due to the extreme flight restrictions. 

A flood of Western businesses has left the Russian market in protest or for logistical reasons. Chinese companies have also slashed shipments to Russia. 

The U.S., the EU, and G7 will suspend normal trade with Russia via their respective processes. This will mean high tariffs for Russian imported goods. 

French President Macron warned of rising food prices and even claimed it could cause famine in Africa. His message voiced concern over how reliant the world is on Russian and Ukrainian agricultural products. 

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This is not a comprehensive list of everything that has happened, just key highlights. As we are covering the war in real-time, some information may not be accurate by the time of reading and other events may have already happened. 

Please reference AUBG Daily’s Ukraine Sources Page to dive deeper. AUBG Daily will be providing biweekly updates on the war.