Overview

• NORAD scrambled four F-16s, an E-3 radar plane and four KC-135 tankers to track two Tu-95 bombers and two Su-35 fighters near Alaska’s ADIZ, confirming the Russian aircraft stayed in international airspace.
• NATO launched two Hungarian Gripen jets from Lithuania to identify a Su-30, a Su-35 and three MiG-31s flying close to Latvian airspace.
• NORAD characterized the Alaska activity as routine for the ADIZ and said it was the third such encounter in about a month and the ninth this year.
• Russia’s ambassador to France, Alexey Meshkov, warned that downing Russian jets would mean war, while denying Moscow’s role in recent incursions.
• Public calls for possible shoot-downs by President Donald Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen intensified debate, with NATO’s nonpublic rules set by the North Atlantic Council described as cautious and European envoys reportedly delivering private warnings in Moscow.