 Russia attacking Ukraine with balloons Ukraine has accused Russia of turning to balloon power to support its invasion of the country. Moscow has begun launching aerial objects with the intention of tricking Ukraine's air defenses into firing surface-to-air missiles and exhausting valuable supplies, according to Kyiv. Suspected balloons that flew over Ukraine were detected in Romanian and Moldovan airspace, prompting Bucharest to scramble jets. Such flying objects carrying radar reflectors have been spotted over Ukraine's skies twice since the US shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon earlier this month. These fake targets were launched by Russia, said Colonel Yuri Ignat, spokesperson for Ukraine's Air Force Command. Kyiv suspects that the balloons are the latest tactic being deployed by Russia in a missile and kamikaze drone strike campaign that has intensified in recent weeks. They will exploit this when the weather is in their favor. The weather was blowing our way today, Ignat said. Ukraine's arsenal of Soviet air defense systems has so far prevented Moscow's fleet of fighter and bomber jets from establishing air superiority since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion on February the 24th last year. But its supplies of air defense missiles have been depleted, according to Western officials. While US and European allies have started sending NATO standard surface-to-air missile systems, more are needed in the coming months. Ukraine has not disclosed whether it fired air defense missiles at the balloons. According to the Financial Times, Russia has not acknowledged launching the objects. A second Ukrainian official said they believe that the balloons that drifted into the airspace of neighboring Moldova and Romania were Russian, although neither country has publicly speculated on their origin. Moldova's civil aviation authority said it had shut down its airspace for more than an hour, afternoon after it. Received information that an unidentified small object similar to a weather balloon was detected. Romania's defense ministry said it scrambled two fighter jets after its ground radars tracked an unidentified object with the characteristics of a weather balloon. But the pilots were unable to find the balloon in the skies or detect it on their onboard radars. The jets returned to base after half an hour, the ministry said. Jen's Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary General, this week warned that both China and Russia were increasing their intelligence and surveillance activities, including through balloons.