The Romanian military has rejected Ukrainian reports that two Russian cruise missiles fired from the Black Sea had crossed Romanian airspace on Friday morning before entering Ukraine.
According to a press release by the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zalouzhny, two projectiles fired “from the Black Sea” crossed Romanian airspace at around 08:33 before entering Ukraine. Romania is a NATO member, and any breach of its airspace could be grounds for the country to invoke article 5 of the founding treaty.
Romania stated that the Ukrainian information about a violation of its airspace was “unconfirmed” – but indicated that a missile had indeed entered the airspace of non-NATO member Moldova.
Moldova, which recently gained EU candidate status alongside Ukraine, is set to summon the Russian ambassador in relation to the incident, based on Ukrainian and Romanian information.
The former Soviet Republic intends to protest against “the unacceptable violation of our airspace by a Russian missile,” a press release from the Moldovan Foreign Ministry said. Against the backdrop of the missile, Moldova has entered into a political crisis, with the country's Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita resigning and the government collapsing as a result of numerous scandals, most relating to Russia's war of aggression.
On 15 November 2022, a missile struck the territory of Poland during a Russian attack on western Ukrainian cities and energy facilities. As a NATO member, Poland considered invoking article 5, which would make NATO an active participant in the war in Ukraine.
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An investigation later concluded the missile that landed on Polish territory was a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile that had attempted to intercept a Russian missile. Poland has not allowed Ukraine to access the investigation. Ukraine still asserts that it was a Russian missile which landed on Poland’s territory.
