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Romanian authorities have denied Ukraine’s suggestion that a Russian missile on Friday crossed the NATO member country’s airspace.
Following a comment from Ukraine’s top general, Romania’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that its fighter jets and radar tracking the missile showed that it got no closer than 35 kilometers (more than 21 miles) to Romania’s border.
Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander in chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, claimed on Telegram Friday morning that two Russian cruise missiles had crossed Romanian air space at around 10:33 a.m. local time (3:33 a.m. ET). That claim was echoed later in the day by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video posted to his official Telegram channel.
Romanian authorities said Friday that there was no truth to that claim.
Two Romanian MiG-21 fighter jets on a routine air policing mission were diverted at 10:38 a.m. local time (3:38 a.m. ET) to monitor a Russian missile launched from a ship in the Black Sea, near Crimea, the Romanian Defense Ministry said.
“The shortest distance from Romanian borders the target reached was 35 kilometers (more than 21 miles),” Defense Minister Angel Tîlvar said, adding that there was “no reason for concern.”
Other incidents involving NATO members: A Russian missile crossing NATO airspace would have the potential to be extremely provocative. The only time a NATO-member country has been directly impacted by Ukraine’s war was in November, when a Ukrainian air defense missile, defending against a Russian attack, landed in Poland and killed two people.
A NATO official directed CNN to the Romanian government.
Russian missile crosses Moldova: A Russian missile did appear to fly over Moldova, a non-NATO country, according to Moldova’s government.
“The responsible structures within the institution detected, at 10:18 a.m. local time (3:18 a.m. ET), a missile, which crossed the airspace of the Republic of Moldova, over the town of Mocra in the Transnistrian region and, later, over the town of Cosauți in the Soroca district, heading towards Ukraine,” the Moldovan Defense Ministry said on Facebook.
Moldova’s Foreign Minster summoned the Russian ambassador Friday over what it said was an “unacceptable violation of our airspace by a Russian missile.”
What the US is saying: In response to the incidents involving Moldova and NATO member Romania, Vedant Patel, State Department principal deputy spokesperson, said Friday that the United States currently has “no indication of a direct military threat by Russia against Moldova or Romania.”
“We support Moldova’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as its constitutionally guaranteed neutrality,” Patel said during a phone briefing.
“We remain in close contact and communication with our Moldova partners and our Romanian allies,” Patel added.
CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.
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