The United States has expressed appreciation to Bulgaria for hosting American military tanker aircraft at Sofia Airport over the past five months, highlighting the role of the country within NATO operations and broader alliance support activities.
The acknowledgment came from General Alexus Grynkewich, one of the top US military commanders and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe. He thanked the Bulgarian side for facilitating the deployment, describing it as a meaningful contribution to allied cooperation.
He said Bulgaria should recognize its role in supporting a partner within the alliance framework and emphasized that such cooperation is not uniformly undertaken across NATO members.
“Bulgaria should be proud that it did this and stood by an ally, stepping forward and showing a willingness to do something that some members of the Alliance were not prepared to do,” Grynkewich said.
Grynkewich noted that the tanker aircraft stationed in Bulgaria were not involved in combat missions launched from Bulgarian territory. However, he did not comment on whether they were used indirectly in broader operational contexts, including recent strikes in the Middle East.
