Bulgarian Health Minister Katia Ivkova announced today (Tuesday) that at least 12 people were killed and dozens injured in two mass collisions that occurred on a highway, amid heavy fog, according to the German News Agency.
Ivkova said that heavy fog on the highway linking the capital, Sofia, to the Black Sea port of Burgas led to two mass collisions.
She added that the two accidents resulted in the closure of the road in both directions.
Ivkova explained that 10 people “died at the scene of the accident,” while two other people died while being transported to the hospital.
She added that 46 people were transferred to medical facilities to receive treatment.
The two accidents, which involved dozens of vehicles, occurred in dense fog near the city of Yambol (southeast) on the highway linking the capital, Sofia, to the city of Burgas.
The governor of the Yambol region, Georgi Chalakov, told the official Bulgarian News Agency that about 50 cars and trucks were damaged in the collisions, while government officials rushed to the site.
Pictures showed overturned and smashed cars and trucks, in addition to vehicles burned by fire.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev had told reporters that “the toll so far is 11 dead and 48 wounded.”
Radev was holding a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is visiting Bulgaria, but he canceled the official events that were scheduled for later Tuesday.
Bulgaria recorded 71 deaths due to road accidents per million inhabitants in 2025, the highest rate in the European Union, according to European Commission figures.
Victims of traffic accidents attribute the high number of deaths on roads in Bulgaria, especially to reckless driving and poor road maintenance.
US envoy Jared Kushner called from Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to establish a new security framework for Ukraine, Russia and Europe to ensure peace, with the start of talks between Kiev and Moscow under the auspices of Washington.
Kushner said, “I hope that today will not be limited to discussing bilateral issues between the two countries and how to put an end to the war... but also how we can establish correct security relations between Ukraine, Russia, and Europe in order to establish a new framework and not just end the war,” to ensure “decades, if not centuries, of peace,” according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.
Official Russian media reported that negotiators from Ukraine and Russia began the new round of talks in Abu Dhabi. Before that, Ukrainian negotiators met with Washington envoys and representatives of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The chief negotiator for Kiev, Rustam Umarov, said on social media, “The first meeting will be held with representatives of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, NATO, and the European Commission, who will be joined by the special envoys of the United States, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.” He added: “We will work to unify our positions and coordinate our steps. In preparation for the next stage of negotiations,” according to what was reported by “Agence France-Presse.”
For his part, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, on Tuesday, that the Europeans will attend the Ukraine-Russia talks in Abu Dhabi, and that no discussions can be held with Russia about the security of Europe before reaching an agreement to cease fire and bring peace. Barot told Radio “France Info”: “Britain, Germany and France will already be in the meeting room.”
The last round of negotiations was held in Geneva in February, without leading to substantive results. Communications stopped completely after the outbreak of war in the Middle East.
Witkoff and Kushner began efforts to resume negotiations by visiting Moscow in September, then Kiev in the first visit of its kind. The two men head the American delegation in Abu Dhabi.
According to Kushner, the talks aim for Russia and Ukraine to directly discuss their concerns “in terms of security in the post-war period.” In order to “push towards concrete solutions” and give “impetus for the next phase of negotiations.”
US President Donald Trump, who has directed several criticisms at Kiev in recent weeks, expected to reach a “very big” agreement with Russia that includes not only Ukraine, but “all of Europe.” Which raised fears of an American rapprochement with the Kremlin.
The Europeans fear that Kiev will be forced to accept unfavorable terms in any settlement, or that Washington will provide new security guarantees to Russia without consulting them.
Berlin, for its part, said that “it must now be verified whether Russia is truly prepared to negotiate seriously.”
Similar to the last negotiating round in Geneva, the Ukrainian delegation is headed by Rustam Umarov while the Russian delegation is led by nationalist historian Vladimir Medinsky.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Monday that he held talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to coordinate positions with the European Union.
Russia seeks to exclude Europe from the discussions, while most European leaders have had only limited or no contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since 2022.
The positions of the two parties appear very far apart. Moscow is demanding a new definition of the “European security architecture” and the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the entire Donetsk region (east).
Kiev, for its part, refuses to withdraw from that fortified region, the defense of which has cost it enormous human sacrifices since the outbreak of war against pro-Russian separatists in 2014, and the subsequent large-scale Russian invasion starting in 2022.
Ukraine demands strong security guarantees sufficient to deter Moscow from launching attacks against it again, while the Kremlin opposes the deployment of any European peacekeeping forces.
