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Newsweek
2 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
NATO Scrambles Typhoon Jets Amid Russian Attack on Ukraine
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Two German fighter jets were deployed from Romania overnight amid a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine that struck key Danube River port infrastructure near the NATO frontier. The German Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, stationed at Romania's 57th Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base as part of NATO's Enhanced Air Policing mission, were launched to monitor the aerial situation in the border area with Ukraine, particularly northern Tulcea County, according to Romania's Ministry of National Defense. The jets were airborne during a window in which Ukraine's military reported 93 drones and two ballistic missiles were launched across 20 locations in the country, including the Odesa region. Some drones struck targets in the city of Izmail, adjacent to Romania across the Danube, causing fires and injuring at least one person, Ukrainian authorities said. No Russian aerial vehicles entered Romanian airspace during the mission, and the German jets returned safely to base, landing at 1:10 a.m. local time. FILE - A Eurofighter Typhoon jet performs at Fliegerhorst Wunstorf to take part in an open house day of the Bundeswehr on June 7, 2018 in Wunstorf, Germany. FILE - A Eurofighter Typhoon jet performs at Fliegerhorst Wunstorf to take part in an open house day of the Bundeswehr on June 7, 2018 in Wunstorf, to follow
2 days ago
- Politics
NATO aircraft scrambled amid overnight Russian drone strikes on Ukraine
LONDON -- Two German fighter jets were scrambled to the Romanian-Ukrainian border on Tuesday night in response to a Russian drone attack in the frontier region, Romania's Defense Ministry said in a statement. Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 93 drones and two ballistic missiles into the country overnight, of which 62 drones and one missile were shot down or suppressed. The air force reported drone and missile impacts across 20 locations. Oleg Kiper, the head of the regional Odesa administration, said drones hit infrastructure and production facilities in the city of Izmail on the Danube river, at the border with Romania -- a NATO member. Fires broke out at the site of the attacks and at least one person was injured, Kiper said. The attack prompted the scrambling of two German Air Force Typhoon fighters "to monitor the air situation in the border area with Ukraine, in the north of Tulcea County," Romania's Defense Ministry said in a statement posted to social media. The German aircraft are currently deployed to Romania as part of NATO's Enhanced Air Policing missions, which were introduced along the bloc's eastern flank after Russia's seizure of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014. Romania's "aerial surveillance system" identified "groups of drones launched by the Russian Federation that attacked Ukrainian ports on the Danube," the ministry said. "During the mission, there were no penetrations of aircraft in the national airspace." Allied aircraft are often scrambled in NATO nations like Poland and Romania in response to Russian long-range attacks in Ukraine, which regularly target locations along Ukraine's border with its NATO neighbors. During previous attacks, Russian drones and missiles have entered NATO airspace. Crashed Russian munitions or fragments of them have been found in Romania, Lithuania and Latvia. Russian missile fragments have also been found in Moldova, which borders Ukraine to the southwest but is not a NATO state. NATO member Poland has also reported several violations of its airspace by Russian missiles and drones. Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down at least 42 Ukrainian drones overnight into Wednesday morning.
