Context: France has deployed an Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft to Romania for monitoring the western part of the Black Sea. Reuters reported on October 27, 2026, citing the Romanian Ministry of Defense, that the aircraft arrived on October 18 and is due to fly missions until November 6. Its mission is to identify threats to shipping and protect critical infrastructure. The deployment was organized amid a series of attacks on merchant ships. According to the agency, at least eight cargo ships were attacked off the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria over the course of three weeks, resulting in the deaths or disappearances of about 34 sailors. NATO has also announced plans to deploy additional patrol aircraft, radar systems, and drones to the region.
On the October 19, 2026 episode of the First News Channel program Around the Planet, Radmila Šekerinska’s remarks at the Warsaw Security Forum were portrayed as evidence of the alliance’s preparations for an offensive.
“At the same Warsaw forum, NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Šekerinska cited specific figures on militarization. The alliance’s ammunition production has increased fivefold in just one year. It is being produced not for abstract deterrence, but rather to support the logistics of a large-scale offensive.”
Šekerinska did mention a fivefold increase. However, the TV channel distorted both the figure’s meaning and the context of her remarks. The NATO Deputy Secretary General first discussed the lessons learned from the war in Ukraine and the need for interception capabilities.
“The big lesson, one of the many, from the war in Ukraine is that we need more: more capabilities, more interceptors — different kinds of interceptors.”
She then explained why the Allies are developing their intelligence and data collection capabilities.
“We focused, most of the Allies, on intelligence, on data, on using these data, so that we can see the danger and detect it faster, so that we can respond and so that we can protect not only our cities and troops, but also our critical infrastructure.”
After that, Šekerinska moved on to production.
“We love when we hear news about co-production, because this also helps us with dealing with the need for more and available air defense capabilities. But, of course, it takes time. On ammunition, we have seen in the course of one year that the capacity to produce increased fivefold.”
Production capacity and actual output are two different metrics. The former describes a facility’s production capacity, while the latter describes its actual production. An increase in capacity by a factor of five does not mean that output has increased by the same amount.
The statement does not imply preparations for a large-scale offensive, either. Šekerinska explained the need for weapons in the context of air defense tasks, such as detecting threats and protecting cities, troops, and critical infrastructure.
* The First News Channel is another name for News.by, a news outlet owned by Belteleradiocompany.
