Credited from: TRTGLOBAL
In response to a major Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine, NATO scrambled two German Typhoon jets from a base in Romania on Tuesday night. This deployment aimed to monitor activity along the Romanian-Ukrainian border, particularly as the Ukrainian air force reported that 93 drones and two ballistic missiles were launched against targets across the country, including key infrastructure in the Odesa region. Of these, they noted that 62 drones and one missile were intercepted, with impacts reported across 20 locations, leading to injuries and fires at the struck sites, especially in Izmail, a city near the border with Romania, according to ABC News and Newsweek.
The scale of the Russian attack has prompted Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to call for a strong international response, highlighting that the bombardment included strikes on civilian and energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy noted that one of the missiles seriously damaged a facility of an American electronics manufacturer in Mukachevo, expressing concerns over the lack of global efforts to halt these assaults. He indicated that Russia's continued attacks render their willingness for peace negotiations questionable, as detailed by ABC News and TRT Global.
In one of the largest aerial offensives this year, Russia's air force initiated a "massive combined air strike" overnight, launching a total of 614 munitions, comprising 574 drones and 40 missiles. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that they intercepted 546 drones and 31 missiles, citing widespread impacts across 11 locations. Moreover, the military operations coincided with NATO's heightened vigilance, with Polish and other allied air defense systems being placed on high alert due to the escalating threats, as reported by ABC News and TRT Global.
The activation of NATO aircraft and the increasing frequency of Russian aerial offensive campaigns heighten tensions along the alliance's eastern borders, prompting officials to express concerns that such provocations could destabilize already fragile peace talks. Both NATO and Romanian defense authorities confirmed that despite the aggressive activity, no Russian projectiles breached NATO airspace during these incidents, underscoring NATO's enhanced air-policing missions established post-Crimea annexation, according to ABC News and TRT Global.