Russian cruise missiles crossed Moldova’s airspace and came within 20 miles of NATO member Romania’s border Friday as Moscow unleashed a new wave of attackstargeting Ukrainian cities ahead of a looming full-scale onslaught.
The Kremlin’s forces launched 71 cruise missiles, 35 S-300 missiles and seven armed Shahed drones since Thursday night, Ukraine’s military chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said.
Ukrainian forces downed 61 cruise missiles and five drones, he said.
Moldova’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that a missile was detected traversing its airspace near the border with Ukraine. Moldova’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the Russian ambassador in Chisinau has been summoned for talks over the “unacceptable violation”.
According to the ministry, the missile was detected over Moldova around 10 a.m. and flew over two border villages, Mocra and Cosauti, before heading toward Ukraine.
The spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Forces, Yurii Ihnat, said that additional cruise missiles had crossed the airspace of Romania, a NATO member country. Both Zaluzhnyi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later repeated that claim on their respective Telegram channels.
But Romania’s defense ministry denied that, saying the closest the missile came to the county’s airspace was approximately 20 miles.
Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tîlvar assured the public that there was “no reason for concern.”
A Russian missile flying through a NATO country’s airspace has the potential of leading to dangerous escalation.
Under Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty, an attack on any of the bloc’s 30 member states “shall be considered an attack against them all.”
Russian missiles and drones struck at least a half-dozen power facilities in Ukraine Friday, causing blackouts across most of the country.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said 10 Russian missiles had been shot down over the capital city after air raid sirens blared during the morning rush hour and officials urged civilians to seek shelter.
Ukraine has been bracing for a massive new offensive in the east, which is expected to involve up to 500,000 troops and get underway in the coming weeks to coincide with the Feb. 24 one-year anniversary of the war.
The situation on the front lines in the Donbas region, which has been mostly static over the winter months, began to shift this week.
After months of artillery battles, mercenaries with the Wagner Group have begun encircling the key city of Bakhmut, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the war.
It said they were now threatening the main western access road to Bakhmut, although a Ukrainian military analyst said supplies were still getting through.
Britain also said Russian forces had made some gains near Vuhledar — a strategically important Ukrainian-held bastion at the intersection of the southern and eastern fronts.
But the British report said the limited Russian advances there had most likely come at a high cost in inexperienced units, including at least 30 Russian armored vehicles abandoned in one failed assault.
The Ukrainian positions in Vuhledar have held since the start of the war as a lynchpin for the front lines.
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