Last week, russian media were actively sharing the message that allegedly there were four F-16 fighter jets observed flying in the skies over the city of Odesa in Ukraine, for about a week since the first recorded instance. Moreover, as claimed, the F-16s took off airfields on Romanian territory.
In response, the Ministry of National Defense of Romania denies the allegations, stating that "it is as clear as possible that the imaginary sources of russian propaganda transmit false information," News.ro quotes the defense ministry as saying.
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"The F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Force perform training and Air Police missions exclusively in the national airspace, with strict compliance with the rules established by international legislation," reads the statement published on the Ministry's media platform Inforadar.
The Romanian defense department assumes that the fake by "propaganda channels associated with the russian federation" was launched due to the recent NATO Summit in Washington "which adopted important decisions regarding the support of Ukraine's defense efforts against the war of aggression, illegal and unjustified launched against it by the russian federation."
Also, the ministry reminds that similar misinformation attempts about alleged F-16 operations in Ukraine involving Romania's participation were made previously, in June and January 2024.
Defense Express reminds that according to the announcements made at the mentioned summit, Ukraine is to receive its first own F-16 multirole fighters this summer. According to Antony Blinken, the United States Secretary of State, the transfer of Ukrainian F-16s from Denmark and Netherlands is currently underway.
Ukraine estimates it needs at least 128 F-16 fighters to reach minimum parity with russia. However, the chances of getting this many in the near future are slim, with 95 officially promised but only 10 or 20 units actually committed to date.
Read more: What Are Ukraine's Chances of Getting 128 F-16 Fighters to Reach Minimum Parity with russia?
