Two Russian cruise missiles breached NATO airspace by flying over Romania before entering Ukraine, the country claims.
One of the top generals in Kyiv said two Kaliber missiles had been launched from the Black Sea, bursting through Moldovan and Romanian airspace before pummelling infrastructure targets in Ukraine.
NATO's Article 5 says that if one member is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member will consider it an act of violence against all members. This means they will take all necessary action to assist the ally.
Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi wrote on Telegram: "Today, February 10, at 10:18 a.m., two Russian Kalibr cruise missiles crossed the state border of Ukraine with the Republic of Moldova.
"At approximately 10:33 a.m., these missiles crossed Romanian airspace. After that, they again entered the airspace of Ukraine at the crossing point of the borders of the three states. The missiles were launched from the Black Sea.
General. Mr. Constantin Spînu, the spokesperson for Romania's Ministry of Defence said news of the breach has not yet been confirmed and that officials will "return shortly with official information regarding this situation".
In an earlier statement, the ministry said its airspace was not breached, and that "cruise missile [s]" had passed 35km outside the border.
A statement published by the ministry reads: "The Romanian Air Force's surveillance system detected on Friday an air target, most likely a cruise missile launched from a Russian ship in the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula."
"The closest the target trajectory got to Romania's airspace was recorded by the radar at roughly 35 kms northeast of the border."
However, Moldova's Defence confirmed Ukraine's announcement, saying: "The Ministry of Defence, together with the responsible structures of the country, is closely monitoring the situation in the region and strongly condemns the violation of the airspace of the Republic of Moldova."
Further unconfirmed reports added that Moldova has summoned the Russian ambassador over the incident.
Ukrainian Pravda quoted an air force spokesman who said Kyiv could have chosen to shoot down the missiles, but they erred on the side of caution to prevent risking civilian lives in foreign countries.
It comes just hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the world that Russia's intelligence agencies planned to destroy Moldova, according to secret plans they found.
Moldova's own intelligence agencies confirmed Zelensky's claim.
While speaking to EU leaders in Brussels, Zelensky explained how he told Moldova's President Maia Sandu about the sinit plot.
He said: “I have informed her that we have intercepted the plan of the destruction of Moldova by the Russian intelligence."
He said the documents showed “who, when and how" the plan would “break the democracy of Moldova and establish control over Moldova.”
He added that the plan was strikingly similar to one Russia had dreamed up to overtake Ukraine.
Today, Russia unleashed strategic bombers, killer drones and rockets in a barrage of attacks across Ukraine.
It appears to be the military push that Kyiv says has been brewing for days, which is picking up pace ahead of the one-year anniversary of its invasion.
The Kremlin's forces focused their bombardments on Ukraine's industrial east, especially the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces that make up the industrial Donbas region where fighting has recently been most intense, the Ukrainian military said. Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces there since 2014.
But the barrage went further, also taking aim at the capital, Kyiv, and Lviv, near Ukraine's Western border with Poland. It also struck critical infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city in the northeast. Seven people were wounded there, two of them seriously, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Air raid sirens went off across much of the country.
The bombardments could be an effort by Russia to soften up Ukraine's defenses ahead of a ground assault, which Kyiv believes Moscow is planning in the east where the Kremlin is striving to secure areas it has illegally annexed and where it claims its rule is welcomed.
In the Donetsk region, local Ukrainian officials reported that the Russian military deployed additional troops and launched offensive operations. "There is a daily escalation and Russian attacks are becoming active throughout the region," Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
In Luhansk province, the Russian army is trying to punch through Ukrainian defenses, according to regional Gov. Serhii Haidai.
"The situation is deteriorating, the enemy is constantly attacking, the Russians are bringing in a large amount of heavy equipment and aircraft," Haidai said.
There has been little change in battlefield positions for weeks.
High-voltage infrastructure facilities were hit in the eastern, western and southern regions, Ukraine's energy company, Ukrenergo, said, resulting in power outages in some areas. It was the 14th round of massive strikes on the country's power supply, the company said. The last one occurred on Jan. 26 as Moscow seeks to demoralize Ukrainians by leaving them without heat and water in the bitter winter.
Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary Anatolii Kurtiev said the city had been hit 17 times in one hour, which he said made it the most intense period of attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
Ukraine's Air Force shot down 10 Russian missiles over Kyiv, according to the Kyiv City Administration. The fragments of one missile damaged two cars, a house and electricity wires. No casualties were reported.
The Ukraine Air Force said Russia launched up to 35 S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles on the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia provinces. Those missiles cannot be destroyed in mid-air by air defenses but they have a relatively short range so the Russians have used them for attacks on regions not far from Russian-controlled territory.
The Khmelnytskyi province in Western Ukraine was also attacked with Shahed drones, according to regional Gov. Serhii Hamalii.
Russia has in the past used Iranian-made Shahed drones to strike at key Ukrainian infrastructure and sow fear among civilians, according to Western analysts. They are known as suicide drones because they nosedive into targets and explode on impact like a missile.
The onslaught lent a sense of urgency to Ukraine's pleas for more Western military support. The need prompted Zelenskyy to make a rare - and daring - two-day trip abroad this week to press allies to grant Kyiv more aid.
Due to the threat of a missile attack, emergency power outages were enacted in Kyiv city, the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to private energy operator DTEK.
The head of Kyiv City Administration, Serhii Popko, said that Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers, which can carry cruise missiles, were in the air.
A Russian rocket fell but did not explode in Ukraine's western Lviv province Friday, according to regional Gov. Maksym Kozytskyi. Kozytskyi said on Telegram that there were no victims when the rocket fell close to a village bus stop.
Moscow's ambitions have narrowed since it launched its full-scale invasion, when the capital Kyiv and the installation of a puppet government were among its targets. It is now focusing its efforts on gaining full control of the Donbas.
Numerous battlefield setbacks, including yielding eastern areas it had initially captured, have embarrassed Russian President Vladimir Putin.
