When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, it did not count on one thing: that among the defenders standing in its way would be Bulgarians. Not just ethnic Bulgarians born on Ukrainian soil, but citizens of Bulgaria itself – men who crossed borders, left families behind, and took up arms for a country that was not their own by passport, but was their own by conscience.
Four years later, as the world marks this grim anniversary, it is time to speak their names.
The first (confirmed) Bulgarian volunteer to fall in Ukraine was Svetoslav Slavkov, 31 years old, from Sofia. He left for Ukraine in November 2023, enlisting in the 40th Separate Rifle Battalion “KODAK.” His training was not yet complete when the Russian assault around Kupyansk forced Ukrainian commanders to send every available soldier to the front. On January 3, 2024, word reached Bulgaria: Svetlyo was gone. He died in close infantry combat. His friends had organized a fundraiser to equip him with the best weapons and gear before he deployed. It was not enough to save him, but it was a testament to the love that followed him into battle.
He would not be the last.
Misho, a young man whose full name has been withheld by his mourners, was the second FC “Levski” Sofia fan, after Svetoslav, to die fighting in Ukraine against Russia. His ultras group, Levski Sofia-West, wrote: “We have lost a young, kind-hearted and beloved brother.” Two Levski fans, two young Bulgarians, gave their lives on the same front, for the same cause, years apart.
Todor Nikolaev Kuzmov served as a volunteer and died on the battlefield. His passing was announced by the Memorial – International Volunteers for Ukraine page, which has never published false information. He was listed as missing by Ukrainian authorities since December 2025. His death was confirmed quietly, with no fanfare – as is often the case with those who choose to fight in silence.
Vladislav Mladenov, 50, was a former sergeant in the Bulgarian Army from Dupnitsa. He had left the military more than a decade before, but in January 2025 he packed his things and went to Ukraine, joining the Foreign Legion. He fought. He was captured at some point. And then, in June 2025, he died. He had an ex-wife and two daughters. The mayor of Dupnitsa promised to search the archives for relatives so his body could be brought home.
Then there is Viktor Dermenzhi, a Bessarabian Bulgarian from Izmail, described by those who knew him as one of those rare men who do not run from duty. When his homeland was attacked, he did not hesitate. He fought where it was hardest. He left behind two daughters. His comrades wrote: “Father, friend and guardian of freedom. Glory to the hero.”
And beyond those who died, there are those still fighting – or who fought and returned. A Bulgarian sniper trainer has been working with Ukraine‘s Main Intelligence Directorate since 2014. He keeps his face hidden. A 37-year-old Bulgarian lawyer has served as a military medic near the front almost since the war‘s beginning. A Bessarabian Bulgarian pilot, Ivan Pepelyashkov, was shot down on March 8, 2022, survived two months of Russian captivity, including brutal interrogations in Kursk, and was released through a prisoner exchange. When his Russian captors asked how a Bulgarian could fight for Ukraine, he answered simply: “I was born here, I grew up here, and I love this country.”
Hundreds more Bessarabian Bulgarians (an ethnic Bulgarian community that has lived on Ukrainian soil since 1774) have fought and died in this war. Their names fill village cemeteries across the Odesa oblast. Their sacrifice is rarely counted in the statistics of nations.
But it should be.
These names are the ones we know. The true number of Bulgarian lives lost in this war is almost certainly higher. Many volunteers fight anonymously, their families keeping silent out of fear or grief, and in the chaos of a front line that stretches hundreds of kilometers, not every death reaches the ears of those back home. There are likely Bulgarian sons and brothers whose sacrifice has not yet been recorded and may never be.
These men and women did not fight because they had to. They fought because they believed that freedom is worth dying for and that standing aside while a neighbor is destroyed is its own kind of defeat. They were Bulgarians. They were heroes. And on this fourth anniversary, with the guns still firing and the front still bleeding, we owe them more than silence.
Eternal glory to the fallen. Honor and gratitude to all who stood up when it mattered most.