Bulgaria pushes Ukraine talks with Moscow, citing nuclear 'risk'

Europe must launch talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said Wednesday, urging it to take the nuclear risk posed by Moscow seriously.

"We must start talking with Russia," Radev said in Brussels, adding that "the most important is to prepare the conditions for peace".

He warned that military support to Kyiv will not be enough since Ukraine is increasingly unable to protect itself from Russia's strikes.

"We should know that there is a limit of just delivering weapons and supporting," he said during a conference organised by Euronews, adding that peace would be achieved "by diplomacy, not by delivering weapons".

Radev ended military support to Ukraine after his election win in April.

He also addressed the nuclear "risk" from Moscow, which he said "no one is raising".

"We should not neglect this. How much can we press Russia without Russia reacting with something else?" he asked.

"When Russia feels weak -- that happened in this war some years ago -- they start playing again with the nuclear card," Radev said.

NATO on Tuesday condemned "irresponsible nuclear rhetoric" by Russia, after Moscow warned it would "deploy its entire arsenal" if the alliance threatens its Kaliningrad exclave.