The commander of a US KFOR contingent said that his troops are prepared to prevent violence in the north of Kosovo.

“We are well prepared, well trained and equipped to react to anything that could happen here right now,“ Colonel Ross Walker, commander of U.S. soldiers from the Texas Army National Guard, told Reuters in an interview.

More than 570 U.S. soldiers serve under the NATO-led mission, which in total has around 4,500 troops. NATO reinforced its presence with another 1,000 troops following the Banjska armed incident in September 2023.

„Even though we stand ready to react to anything, our wish and desire is to always do things through a peaceful dialogue first,” the colonel said.

Reuters said that some US soldiers are based at Nothing Hill camp close to the northern town of Leposavic and patrol routes that link both Kosovo and Serbia. They park their unarmoured white trucks close to the border with Serbia and then walk near the metal bars that until recently held signs signalling the border line between Kosovo and Serbia. They patrol on foot and carry only pistols, a sign that things have been calm recently, it added.