RUSSIA yesterday warned Ukraine’s neighbours, including Nato member Romania, against hosting Kyiv’s military aircraft, saying they can end up being involved in an armed conflict.

“We know for sure that Ukrainian combat aircraft have flown to Romania and other neighbouring countries,” said Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov in a video briefing.

“The use of the airfield network of these countries for basing Ukrainian military aviation with the subsequent use of force against Russia’s army can be regarded as the involvement of these states in an armed conflict.”

“It is pure rhetoric designed to divert attention from what is really happening on the ground – civilians killed, the rules of armed conflict flouted,” said Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca in a television interview.

Moscow can try all it wants to scare Romania, he added, but “we have no reason to feel threatened”.

Ciuca raised an incident reported by the Romanian military on February 24, the first day of the conflict, when a Ukrainian fighter jet was intercepted in Romanian airspace and forced to land.

The pilot told authorities that the incursion was due to a technical problem.

His jet was allowed to leave, unarmed, a few days later and the incident was made public – “in all transparency” – precisely to avoid any misunderstanding with Moscow, added Ciuca.

Konashenkov claimed that “practically all” Ukraine’s combat-ready aircraft have been destroyed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly demanded that Western powers enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine to prevent more Russian attacks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow will consider any country imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine to have entered into the military conflict. – AFP, March 7, 2022.