Ukraine and Bulgaria intend to restore direct air and rail links between the two countries. An agreement to this effect was reached on 13 November during a visit to Sofia by Infrastructure Minister Andrii Pyvovarskyi, where he met with Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev and Minister of Transport, Information Technology, and Communications Ivaylo Moskovski, the press service of the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure announced.
Currently, rail services between Kiev and Sofia involves a transfer at a station in Budapest because of the exclusion of the direct carriage from the Moscow-Sofia train.
Pyvovarskyi expressed hope that the active work that is currently being performed by the railway administrations of Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova will allow restoration of direct carriages to the Kiev-Sofia train for the 2016/2017 season. The two sides agreed to provide rail services between the two capitals in the near future.
Regarding direct flights, the Bulgarian side reaffirmed its commitment to full liberalization of flights between the two countries and congratulated Ukrainian airlines on their plans to begin regular flights between Kiev and Sofia in December this year, operating three flights per week. "Moscow has also confirmed that the Sofia airport will create attractive conditions for the operations of Ukrainian airlines," the press service said.
The press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure explained to the Interfax Ukraine news agency that the Windrose airline would launch flights to Sofia.
