Romania bolsters defences to stop Ukraine war crossing NATO threshold

29/9/2023 18:15

        Romania is moving air defences closer to its Danube villages across the river from Ukraine where Russian drones have been attacking grain facilities, and is adding more military observation posts and patrols to the area.
        
        The measures, along with the deployment of four additional U.S. F-16 fighter jets and an expanded no-fly zone, are a sign of growing concern in Romania and the broader NATO alliance that the Ukraine war could spill over into its territory.
        
        In November last year, a missile hit southern Poland killing two people and prompting a brief security scare, although it was later determined that Ukrainian air defences were to blame. Now Romania is in the spotlight.
        
        Soon after pulling out of the Black Sea grain deal on July 17, Moscow began targeting Ukrainian ports and warehouses along the Danube, in an apparent attempt to choke off the main alternative route for Ukraine's agricultural exports.
        
        Among the targets were the Ukrainian ports of Izmail and Reni, both of which lie across the Danube from Romanian soil.