Village on the doorstep of Ukraine is expected to become NATO’s largest European air base, as Putin promises to go “to the end” of the war

• The Romanian air base of Mihail Kogălniceanu is expected to become the largest NATO base in Europe.

• The $2.7 billion expansion will allow the base to support 10,000 NATO employees and their families.

• Come as put on promised to go “to the end” in the war in Ukraine.

An air base located just about 20 kilometers from the Black Sea coast and 290 kilometers from the war-torn city of Odesa in southern Ukraine is set to become the largest NATO base in Europe.

A $2.7 billion project to transform Mihail Kogălniceanu air base in Romania began earlier this year.

The base, which was used by the US military since 1999it is expected to become the size of a small city, with the capacity to accommodate 10,000 NATO personnel and their families, Euro News Romania previously reported.

Nicolae Crețu, commander of the air base, told the channel that the expanded facility would require “maintenance hangars, fuel depots, ammunition, equipment, aviation technical materials, simulators, catering facilities, accommodation.”

“Everything necessary to support the operation and missions of a base of this size,” he stated.

A fleet of Romanian F-16 fighter jets recently acquired from Norway, as well as MQ-9 Reaper drones, will also soon arrive at the base, the BBC reported.

NATO announced Earlier this month, seven Finnish Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighters landed at the base on June 3 to conduct “real-world training and sorties along the eastern flank of the Black Sea coast.”

“For two months, the Finnish jets are joining a Royal Air Force Typhoon detachment and carrying out rapid reaction alert duties and flying alongside them and the Romanian F-16s, collectively protecting NATO airspace and securing the population Romanian,” said Lieutenant Colonel Rami Lindström, the first commander of the Finnish detachment at the base.

“Our objective here in Romania is to improve our integration into NATO Air Power, improving and deepening our cooperation with the Royal Air Force and the Romanian Air Force”, he added.

The US presence at the base is also increasing, Royal Air Force pilot Lieutenant Charlie Tagg told the BBC, adding that there was “a lot more infrastructure, accommodation, people and equipment”.

Dorin Popescu, a geopolitical analyst, previously told Euronews: “The Mihail Kogălniceanu base will become NATO’s most important permanent military structure in the immediate vicinity of the conflict in southern Ukraine.”

“Let’s not imagine that this conflict will end this year in 2025 or in 2026,” he said. “It’s a long-term conflict.”

However, Russian politicians have issued stern warnings about the project, with Andrey Klimov, vice-chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee, previously warning that it was a “threat” to Bucharest.

“If the Romanians like it, it’s their problem, of course, but the NATO suicide club drags ordinary civilians into adventures that can end very badly for their families and children,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his full-scale invasion of Ukraine by saying that NATO has been expanding aggressively, ever closer to Russia, over the past few decades, and has long warned against further expansion. .

Despite its rhetoric, NATO continued to move further and further east, with Finland joining NATO in April 2023 and Sweden joining in March 2024.

However, Putin this week reiterated his threats to the West, promising to go “to the end” in the war with Ukraine.

Defeat in Ukraine, Putin said, would mean “the end of the thousand-year history of the Russian state. I think this is clear to everyone… Isn’t it better to go to the end, to the end?” he said.

Read the original article at Business Insider