Overview

• Tallinn reports the jets entered over the Gulf of Finland and remained for 12 minutes, with no flight plan filed and transponders switched off according to Estonian forces.
• NATO says Italian F-35s scrambled under Baltic air policing to intercept and escort the aircraft, with Swedish and Finnish jets also reported to have supported the response.
• Moscow denies any violation, asserting the MiG-31s followed an agreed route over neutral Baltic waters from Karelia to Kaliningrad and stayed more than three kilometers from Vaindloo island.
• Estonia summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires and announced a request to trigger Article 4 consultations following what it calls the fourth airspace breach of the year.
• EU and allied officials condemned the incident, with Ursula von der Leyen urging swift approval of a 19th sanctions package as NATO reinforces its eastern posture after recent drone intrusions into Poland and Romania.