—❗️🪖🇦🇱/🇭🇷/🇽🇰 NEW: Defense officials from Albania and Croatia, both NATO members, met in Shkodra with representatives of Kosovo to advance a trilateral military cooperation framework presented as “coordination” and “engagement.”

➡️ The move effectively treats Kosovo as a de facto military partner despite ongoing non-recognition by some states and the constraints of UNSCR 1244, adding pressure on Serbia amid the construction of new regional security structures around it.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—❗️🇷🇸 NEW: The Serbian Ministry of Defense has sharply condemned a trilateral meeting of the Albania–Croatia–Kosovo military alliance, stating that Serbia “remains committed to peace but will not allow its vital national and defense interests to be threatened.”

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—❗️🇷🇸❌🇭🇷🇦🇱🇽🇰 URGENT: Serbia’s General Staff has announced intensified efforts to bolster the country’s armed forces, declaring an ambition to build capabilities surpassing the combined military power of the recently formed Croatia–Albania–Kosovo alliance.

➡️ The move is framed in Belgrade as a response to the alliance’s emergence and a bid to strengthen national deterrence.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

🇷🇴📉🏭 Romania loses significant economic value annually due to the lack of refining capacity, warns Minister of Energy Bogdan Ivan, criticizing the current model of exporting raw resources.

According to him, copper ore extracted in Romania leaves at a reduced purity to refineries abroad, and is then re-imported at industrial standards, which generates significant costs and losses for the local economy. Ivan claims that an investment of approximately 300 million euros would allow the construction of the first copper refinery in the country, capable of serving both the domestic market and the region.

Ivan said that in mid-April, a Memorandum would be presented to the Government, which would formalize the collaboration between Romania and the US for the first integrated project of extraction, refining and industrial use of resources. The official specified that the partner involved already has contracts with large companies in the American aerospace industry, which could ensure the sale of the resulting production.

In the context of global competition for scarce resources, the minister believes that the development of domestic processing could transform Romania from a supplier of raw materials into a relevant player on the international market.

@Wallachian_Gazette

—🇧🇬💸 From February first, Bulgaria officially stopped using the Lev

➡️ The Euro is now fully adopted in the country.

ℹ️ Information reported by our source in Bulgaria.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇧🇬 NEW: Bulgaria's ex-president Radev stated on BNT Panorama that he plans to set up a new party once legal deadlines allow, after the spring 2026 vote.

➡️ He resigned last month to enter politics, citing failed elites and public calls for change.

➡️ Polls show his bloc leading at over 25% ahead of GERB.

ℹ️ Information reported by our source in Bulgaria.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇹🇷/🇽🇰 NEW: Turkish defense company Baykar has congratulated Kosovo on its Independence Day, calling it a “friendly and brotherly nation”.

➡️ The company, a key producer of Bayraktar armed drones and a symbol of Turkey’s growing defense footprint in the Balkans, has supplied TB2 drones to Kosovo’s security forces in recent years.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇺🇸/🇽🇰 NEW: US President Donald Trump has told Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani that Washington remains “steadfast” in its support for Kosovo’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, extending congratulations to the country and its citizens on the occasion of Independence Day on 17 February.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇺🇸/🇽🇰 NEW: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio marked Kosovo’s Independence Day by stating that Washington remains unwavering in its support for Kosovo’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, stressing expectations of even stronger bilateral cooperation in the years ahead.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇺🇸/🇽🇰 NEW: A large digital billboard marking Kosovo’s Independence Day was displayed in New York City’s Times Square.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🛢🇭🇺/🇷🇺/🇭🇷 NEW: Hungarian energy company MOL has signed its first contracts to ship Russian crude by sea to Croatia for onward transit to Hungary, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced, as Budapest seeks to replace halted Druzhba pipeline flows blocked via Ukraine and redirect supplies through the Adriatic route.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🪖🇲🇰 NEW: Dozens of North Macedonia soldiers have been placed in quarantine following a scabies outbreak in the army, with poor conditions in the military blamed for the spread of the disease.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇷🇸/🇨🇿 WATCH: Serbian Chief of the General Staff Gen. Milan Mojsilović said the Serbian Armed Forces expect delivery of Czech-made RM-70 Vampire multiple rocket launchers this year, in a move that will significantly bolster artillery and rocket units and enhance long-range firepower as part of the ongoing modernization of the Land Forces.

➡️ The RM-70 Vampire system has also been observed in use by Ukrainian forces in the war in Ukraine.
​
🔗 Dunav Intel

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🪖🇷🇸/🇸🇴 NEW: Serbia is set to deliver 17 M-84 AC3 main battle tanks and unmanned aerial vehicles to Somalia as part of a wider military training and financing package, with Belgrade reportedly also supplying maintenance equipment, spare parts, weapons and ammunition.

➡️ According to Somalian sources, Serbian instructors have been training Somalia’s elite presidential guard special forces in the operation of this advanced hardware for over three and a half years under a mixed direct-purchase and credit arrangement.
​
🔗 Dunav Intel

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English