US sends troops to Bulgaria to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank

The announcement was made by the Bulgarian leader Kiril Petkov after talks with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Sofia on March 19, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency (Germany) said.

The U.S. Stryker Infantry Division will join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) combat group in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Defense Ministry said.

In addition, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov confirmed that there will be no arms transfers from Bulgaria to Ukraine. “We have not discussed in any way the issue of military assistance to Ukraine,” he told a news conference.

Before the visit of the US Secretary of Defense, the international media speculated that Bulgaria might deliver the Soviet-designed S-300 air defense system to Ukraine.
Earlier, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev warned that supplying arms to Ukraine could lead the country to become directly involved in the current conflict.

However, Prime Minister Petkov affirmed that Bulgaria will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine. At the meeting, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had earlier praised Bulgaria’s aid measure to Ukraine as well as its act of receiving its people fleeing the war. In addition, the two men visited Bulgarian and American soldiers training in a military zone in eastern Bulgaria.