Russia launched another massive strike against Ukraine on February 10th. During the attack, two cruise missiles flew into Romanian airspace. However, they deny this information.
About this Channel 24said Oleg Katkov, editor-in-chief of Defense Express. According to him, what happened was a matter of time. In the winter of 2022, the Ukrainian military already shot down an enemy missile 40 kilometers from the border with Romania.
Why Romania claims that the missiles did not cross its airspace.
As Katkov noted, in cases where there is a missile attack, the state must provide 100% of its own protection. Even if it is a NATO member country. Romania sent MiG-21 aircraft to escort and intercept these missiles, which supposedly did not cross the airspace. This is a fighter that meets the level of the 1960s – 70 years.
They have been seriously modernized. However, Romania was going to write them off last spring because of the unreliability and accident rate. But in the absence of the F-16, they decided to extend the service life for another year.
And here is the question. Why to accompany such a cruise missile, which can even be a nuclear charge… It doesn't say on it where it flies – either to Ukraine, or somewhere else, because World War 3 has begun. And Romania sends outdated aircraft to intercept. There are many questions about the defense capability of Romania as a whole,” Katkov noted.
How NATO should react to the missile's passage
NATO representatives practically did not comment on the incident of the missile's passage in Romanian airspace. They may begin to say that they are seriously concerned. But they themselves understand that this is not an adequate response to the threat.
If there is no reaction, they will start using the space of this country. When the space of Moldova was used, there was no adequate reaction. And this is now a common situation. It could be the same with Romania,” Katkov stressed.
In his opinion, it would be adequate in response to missile overflights to introduce a no-fly zone on Moldova or extend the NATO air patrol zone. It would be necessary to create certain no-polite zones in the Black Sea region in order to protect the Alliance.
Missile flying over Moldova and Romania
- On February 10, Russian invaders massively attacked Ukraine. As the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny noted, the enemy Caliber crossed the airspace of Moldova and Romania.
- The Ministry of Defense of Moldova confirmed the information that the Russian missile was on the territory of the country. They condemned the violation of their own airspace.
- The Romanian Ministry of Defense did not confirm the information. They noted that the rocket was fixed somewhere 35 kilometers from the border with Romania.
