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The airbase, located just 12 miles from the Black Sea coast and 180 miles from the war-torn city of Odessa in southern Ukraine, is set to become NATO’s largest base in Europe.
A $2.7 billion project to upgrade the Mihail Kogálniceanu Air Base in Romania began earlier this year.
This base is Used by the U.S. military since 1999It is planned to be the size of a small city, able to accommodate 10,000 NATO personnel and their families. Euronews Romania Reported previously.
Airbase commander Nicolae Kurec told the media that the expanded facility would require “maintenance hangars, fuel stores, ammunition, equipment, aviation technical materials, simulators, food facilities and accommodation.”
“We have everything we need to support the operations and mission of a base of this size,” he said.
Romania’s F-16 fighter jets and MQ-9 Reaper drones recently purchased from Norway are also due to arrive at the base soon. BBC report.
NATO Announced It was reported earlier this month that seven Finnish Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets landed at the base on June 3 and conducted “training and operational sorties along the eastern Black Sea coast.”
“For two months the Finnish jets will join the RAF Typhoon detachment and perform rapid alert missions, flying alongside the Typhoon detachment and Romanian F-16s in joint defence of NATO airspace and ensuring the safety of the Romanian people,” said Lieutenant General Rami Lindstrom, first commander of the Finnish detachment at the base.
“Our goal in Romania is to hone and deepen cooperation between the Royal Air Force and the Romanian Air Force, thereby strengthening our integration into NATO’s air power,” he added.
A Romanian Air Force F-16 fighter jet.
AP Photo/Andrea Alexandre
Royal Air Force pilot Lieutenant Charlie Tagg told the BBC that the US military presence at the base has also been stepped up, with “a significant increase in infrastructure, accommodation, personnel and equipment.”
“The Mikhail Kogálniceanu base will become NATO’s most important permanent military installation in the immediate vicinity of the conflict in southern Ukraine,” geopolitical analyst Dorin Popescu previously told Euronews.
“Don’t imagine that this conflict will end this year, or in 2025 or 2026,” he said. “This is a long-term conflict.”
But Russian politicians have issued stern warnings against the project, with Andrei Klimov, deputy chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee, previously saying the project “Threat” to Bucharest.
“Of course, if Romanians want that, that’s up to them, but NATO’s suicide club is dragging civilians into these adventures that could end very badly for their families and children,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Alexander Nemenov (via Getty)
Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by saying NATO had aggressively expanded towards Russia over the past few decades and has long warned against further expansion.
Despite his rhetoric, NATO continues to move further east, with Finland due to join NATO in April 2023 and Sweden in March 2024.
Nevertheless, Putin this week Repeated He made clear his threats against the West and vowed to fight the war with Ukraine “to the end.”
Putin said defeat in Ukraine would “mean the end of the 1,000-year history of the Russian state,” adding, “I think this is clear to everyone, but I think it would be better to see it through to the end.”