Kosova marked 26 years since its liberation today. President Vjosa Osmani recalled the arrival of NATO peacekeeping troops on June 12, 1999, describing it as “the landing of hope for a long-suffering people.”

She said NATO’s intervention played a decisive role in ending the war and bringing home over one million Albanians who had been forced to flee.

Osmani also warned against efforts to distort the past. “The truth about Kosova cannot be erased by lies written in pencil,” she said.

“Free Kosova, forever proud! On this day, 26 years ago, hope landed on Kosova’s scorched land. Fifty thousand NATO troops entered our devastated country, helping liberate a people oppressed for centuries. More than one million Albanians returned to their homes.

The fighters of the Kosova Liberation Army and NATO soldiers turned fear into courage and pain into hope. On that historic day, they brought light after a long darkness and made freedom a reality. Enemies of Kosova may try to change history, but a story written in blood cannot be undone by lies in pencil. Free, independent, democratic Kosova, forever! The martyrs of freedom gave it eternity,” Osmani wrote.

NATO troops entered Kosova on June 12, 1999, just two days after the Alliance ended its air campaign against Serbian military and police forces. NATO launched the bombing on March 24 in response to ethnic cleansing and violent repression carried out by Belgrade’s regime. The campaign ended on June 10

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