Pilots. The first four Ukrainian pilots have arrived in Romania to start training for the F-16 jets, the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense, Constantin Spînu, said on Friday. He also said that for the time being, the pilots attend theoretical courses, the practical phase being scheduled to start at the end of the year. Ukraine received F-16 jets from the West and wants to be able to use them as soon as possible to counter Russian attacks. On Thursday, Minister Angel Tîlvăr reconfirmed, in a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, Romania’s firm commitment to further supporting Ukraine.
Russia strike. The Romanian foreign ministry firmly condemns the Russian strike against a grain vessel in the Black Sea waters. “This is an unprecedented escalation of the actions of the Russian Federation in its illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine. The deliberate attack against a commercial vessel is a grave violation of humanitarian international law regarding warfare at sea”, said the foreign ministry in a statement. The ministry calls on the Russian Federation to put an end to all attacks against commercial vessels and to comply with the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. NATO strongly condemned as well the Russian attack on a civilian grain ship in the Black Sea. A Russian missile hit a commercial vessel in the Black Sea that was carrying grains from Ukraine to Egypt, with no casualties reported, said Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.
