Some of the ground teams that will serve the expected military planes from Spain, aimed at providing joint protection of the airspace, have already arrived in Bulgaria. The Spanish Air Force will jointly guard the skies from mid-February to the end of March using Eurofighter jets, Defense Minister Stefan Yanev announced. Part of the equipment of the Spanish military is already in the air base of "Graf Ignatievo".

The planes are expected to arrive at the end of the week, reporter Dobromir Videv informed. According to people familiar with the matter, the actual joint airspace protection mission will take place after February 17.

The issue of additional NATO forces in Bulgaria has become topical because of recent tensions between Russia and NATO over Ukraine.