Early in the morning of July 21, the Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement on its Telegram channel reporting that Russian air defense forces had sent up MiG-29 and MiG-31 interceptors to identify a group of aerial targets flying towards Russian state territory. “The Russian fighter jets identified the air target as a pair of B-52N (sic, B52-H) strategic bombers of U.S. Air Force. As the Russian fighter jets approached, the U.S. strategic bombers crews adjusted the flight course as they withdrew and then made a U-turn away from the State border of the Russian Federation,” Associated Press reported at 8:25 a.m. EDT.
According to later news reports, the Russians intercepted the B-52s over the Barents Sea, after they had flown from Barksdale, Louisiana. Afterwards B-52s turned south over Norway then flew south over Finland before eventually landing in Romania. They were escorted by Finnish F-18 and German Typhoon fighter jets over the Gulf of Finland.
Reportedly, this was the first time that B-52 bombers had flown through Finnish airspace and the first time deployed to Romania. While at the Mihail Kogalniceanu Airbase, near the Romanian port of Constanta, the bombers will operate as a bomber task force mission.
