site.btaDefence Minister Zakov to Participate in Discussion on Ukraine Aid at Ramstein Air Base

Bulgarian Defence Minister Dragomir Zakov will be among the participants in a discussion on aid to Ukraine, which will be held at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany on April 26, said his Ministry. 

He was invited to the discussion last week by US Defence Secretary Loyd J. Austin III. 

Bulgarian Chief of Defence, Admiral Emil Eftimov, is also going. 

The participants will discuss the security environment, support for Ukraine and the need to make sure it is available in the long term so as to enable it to protect its territorial integrity.

According to airforcemag.com, attending the discussion will be stakeholders from up to 40 nations. It quotes Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby as saying that the meeting is “not a NATO ministerial” but a gathering of those interested in providing aid to Ukraine in its resistance to Russia’s invasion.  “One of the things that [Austin] wants” from the meeting is “the beginnings of a discussion with like-minded nations about long-term defense relationships that Ukraine will need going forward,” Kirby is quoted as saying. There will be no NATO decisions resulting from the meeting about future U.S. force posture in Europe, Kirby said, because it is “not a NATO meeting.”