Romania’s defense ministry said today its radars had detected a Russian missile, but it “never for a moment” traveled through the country’s airspace.
“The air surveillance system detected on February 10 an air target launched from the Black Sea, from a Russian ship near the Crimean peninsula – most likely a cruise missile – crossing the airspace of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and re-entering Ukrainian airspace without any Romanian airspace to have crossed”the defense ministry said in a statement quoted by the Russian news agency TASS.
The ministry specified the point where the missile’s trajectory was closest to Romanian airspace, and noted that radar systems picked it up about 22 miles northeast of the border.
“At 10:38 [hora local], two MiG-21 fighter jets of the Romanian Air Force were sent to the north of Romania to meet any needs. About two minutes later, the situation was cleared up and the two aircraft resumed their original mission,” the defense ministry said.
“The Romanian Air Force maintains permanent surveillance of the national airspace and adjacent zone in cooperation with the Allies”.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had pointed out that Russian missiles sent against Ukraine crossed the airspace of Moldova and Romania and posed a “challenge to NATO”.
In a video message recorded on his return to Ukraine after visiting several European countries, Zelensky assured that Russia launched at least 70 missiles against Ukrainian soil this Friday, causing numerous civilian deaths.
The Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, also denounced that Russian Kalibr missiles crossed and violated the airspace of Moldova and Romania, a NATO member state.
Source: DN
