Village on Ukraine’s doorstep to become largest NATO air base in Europe, Putin promises to continue the war “to the end”

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

• A comprehensive expansion will enable the base to accommodate 10,000 NATO personnel and their families.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin recently vowed to continue the war in Ukraine “to the end.”

An air force base about 19 kilometers from the Black Sea coast and 290 kilometers from the important port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine is to become the largest NATO base in Europe.

A $2.7 billion project to transform the Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base in Romania began earlier this year.

The base, which has been used by the US military since 1999, is expected to be the size of a small town and have the capacity to accommodate 10,000 NATO personnel and their families, Euro News Romania previously reported.

Nicolae Crețu, the air base commander, told the newspaper that the expanded facility would require “maintenance hangars, fuel depots, ammunition, equipment, aeronautical material, simulators, catering facilities and accommodation.”

“Everything needed to support the operations and missions of a base of this size,” he said.

A squadron of Romanian F-16 fighter jets recently purchased from Norway and MQ-9 Reaper drones would soon arrive at the base, the BBC reported on Sunday.

As NATO announced earlier this month, seven F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets from the Finnish Air Force also landed at the base on June 3 to conduct “exercises and practical missions along the eastern flank of the Black Sea coast.”

“For two months, the Finnish jets will join a Typhoon detachment of the Royal Air Force and provide rapid alert service. They will fly side by side with this and the Romanian F-16 fighter jets to jointly secure NATO airspace and protect the Romanian population,” said Lt Cl Rami Lindström, the first commander of the Finnish detachment at the base.

The US presence at the base will also be increased, Flt. Lt. Charlie Tagg, a British Royal Air Force pilot, told the BBC. He added that there is “much more infrastructure, accommodation, personnel and equipment”.

Geopolitical analyst Dorin Popescu had previously told Euro News: “The Mihail Kogălniceanu base will become NATO’s most important permanent military structure in the immediate vicinity of the conflict in southern Ukraine.”

“We cannot assume that this conflict will end this year, in 2025 or 2026,” he said. “It is a long-term conflict.”

Some Russian politicians have issued stark warnings about the project. Andrey Klimov, deputy chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee, had previously warned that the project posed a “threat” to Bucharest.

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

Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his large-scale invasion of Ukraine by saying, among other things, that NATO had become aggressive in recent decades and had drawn ever closer to Russia. He had long warned against further expansion.

Despite his rhetoric, NATO has continued to expand eastward; Finland joined NATO in April last year, and Sweden joined NATO in March this year.

Putin issued new threats to the West this week, promising to continue the war with Ukraine “to the end.”

A defeat in Ukraine, Putin said, would mean “the end of the thousand-year history of the Russian state,” adding: “Isn’t it better to hold out all the way to the end?”

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