Overview

• Estonian authorities said the jets entered near the island of Vaindloo with no filed flight plans, transponders off and no radio contact.
• Tallinn delivered a formal protest note to the highest-ranking Russian diplomat in the country after what the foreign minister called an "unprecedentedly brazen" act.
• Officials reported this was the fourth airspace violation by Russia this year, which they described as part of a worsening pattern.
• Media reports citing Politico said Italian F-35s were scrambled to respond, a detail not confirmed in Estonia’s official statement.
• The Baltic states rely on rotating NATO air policing rather than national fighter fleets, a dependency thrown into sharper focus by recent incursions, including large Russian drone penetrations into Poland last week.