Romania’s Defense Ministry, a NATO member, said on Friday that a Russian missile had come within 22 miles of the country’s border but it did not enter the country’s territory, denying the military’s allegation. Ukrainian team.
Ukraine’s top military commander earlier in the day said two Russian missiles entered the airspace of Moldova and Romania before entering Ukrainian territory and heading towards targets in the country.
Although Russian missiles were reported to fly over Moldovan airspace during the war, this would be the first instance of Russian missiles entering Romanian airspace. Such a breach would risk stoking tensions between NATO and Moscow.
Romania’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that when a missile was detected near the northern part of the country’s territory, two Romanian warplanes conducting drills under NATO command were transferred. heading to the area, but they will resume their original mission when the situation stabilizes. airy.
NATO declined to comment on the episode. Moldova’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that the missile had flown over the country’s airspace and said it had summoned the Russian ambassador to discuss the incident.
Daniel Voda, a spokesman for the Ministry of Moldova, condemned the violation of the country’s airspace, saying in a statement: “We strongly oppose the recent unfriendly actions and statements related to to the Republic of Moldova, which is completely unacceptable to our people.”
The missiles involved in the incident were part of a broader Russian offensive of dozens of drones, missiles and cruise missiles against critical Ukrainian infrastructure across the country. .
Russia has previously fired drones and missiles over Moldova into Ukraine, prompting a diplomatic outcry from the government. Debris from Russian missile shot down by Ukrainian air defenses landed in a border village in Moldova in October.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago, there has been concern that the conflict could escalate by design or by accident.
In November, when An explosion in Poland near the Ukrainian border kills two people, Ukrainian officials were quick to claim that it was the result of a Russian missile. When it was identified instead as a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile, concerns eased about the prospect of NATO being drawn deeper into the war.
Western officials have also made the results of that investigation public, as both Russia and NATO have said they do not want to engage in a direct war with each other. Although NATO members have sent military aid to Ukraine, both sides have also made some efforts to prevent the war from spreading to neighboring countries.
On Friday, Valery Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said in a statement that two Kalibr cruise missiles fired from the Black Sea entered Moldova’s airspace at 10:18 and then crossed Romanian airspace 15 minutes later. He said the missiles then returned to Ukraine after passing through the junction between the three countries’ borders.
Spokesperson of the Air Force of Ukraine, Yuriy Ihnat, told the Ukrainian news agency Pravda that Ukraine had the opportunity to shoot down the missile on Friday, but it did not do so immediately because of the risks to the people of a foreign country.
Matina Stevis-Gridneff contribution report.
