Air forces from seven various NATO countries joined its aircraft and ground systems for a training event in Romanian airspace earlier this week, a press release from the alliance said on Saturday. The training sought to conduct coordinated combined air-to-ground drills "demonstrating interoperability and preparedness".

"The one-day event included Romanian F-16s, French Rafales, and German Tornado jets as well as US EA-18 fighter aircraft launched from the USS Harry S. Truman carrier in the Mediterranean," read the press release.

The training came as a result of the Ukraine war, which allegedly prompted NATO to increase its presence in the eastern flank.

"This enhanced Vigilance Activity enables forces to address a large spectrum of threats, from tactical to strategic, emanating from many directions," claimed Lieutenant Colonel Raphael, part of the planning team for the activity at Allied Air Command.

According to Raphael, the participating air assets are modeling how to weaken an adversary's integrated air defense system to allow follow-on operations and the freedom of maneuver necessary for defensive operations in NATO and international airspace.

Bringing this number of allies together for such a multifaceted training event proves NATO's ability to "concentrate multinational fires and effects from the air, maritime, and land components in the same place at the same time and to ensure it has the capability and interoperability to respond in the event that the Alliance is threatened."

7 Allied Air Forces 🇧🇪 🇫🇷 🇩🇪 🇷🇴 🇪🇸 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 joined their aircraft and ground systems for an interoperability training event in Romanian airspace, demonstrating Allied capability to shield #NATO from any threat

More information: https://t.co/NkWenqtThb #SecuringTheSkies pic.twitter.com/BOJU9B1AJb

— NATO (@NATO) July 29, 2022

NATO eastward expansion

Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual press conference in December of last year, during which he tackled issues concerning Russia's domestic and foreign agenda.

Putin demanded the West "immediately" provide Russia with security guarantees amid spiraling tensions involving a massive deployment of Russian troops toward Ukraine, at the time. In December, Putin said that the West should be the first to give Russia immediate security guarantees, after decades of breaking its promises to pursue its own security interests in the post-Soviet space.

"You [the Western nations] demand some kind of guarantee from me. It's you who must give us guarantees — immediately, right now — instead of chatting us up for decades… while doing what you planned for," he said, referring to NATO’s eastward expansion.

In March, Moscow released that it had obtained intelligence that NATO was planning on deploying four military divisions in Ukraine.

"The deployment of the NATO's formations was going to happen during the summer," sources told Al Mayadeen, noting that Russia made the decision to force NATO's hand out of deploying soldiers in Ukraine.

See more: Ukraine's Zelensky poses for Vogue amid an ongoing war

Furthermore, NATO continues its eastward expansion as it sought to add Finland and Sweeden to its ranks while also working to strengthen its presence throughout the eastern flank. Moreover, the most recent NATO strategic concept, agreed upon in Madrid earlier this year, considers Russia a threat.

Read more: US cancels ‘essential’ Black Sea drills over war in Ukraine - Reports