"Last month, Russian drones violated the airspace of several NATO member countries, including Poland and Denmark; 10 days later, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace, staying there for 12 minutes. Such Russian air incursions are not new, but these were more aggressive and lasted longer than others in recent memory. Coming as negotiations over a possible settlement of the war in Ukraine were at a standstill, they looked like an attempt by Russian President Vladimir Putin to intimidate and divide the alliance."
""I would say that it backfired on him," Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told me when we met at his office in Tallinn last week. He described how advanced F-35 jets, flown by the Italian air force, had intercepted the aged MiGs over Estonia's Vaindloo Island, about 16 miles off the mainland. Earlier, Polish and other NATO militaries had scrambled jets and shot down up to four of the nearly two dozen Russian drones that threatened the country."
Donald Trump long derided NATO as obsolete and a group of freeloaders, yet the transatlantic alliance remains the most powerful combined military force. Recent Russian drones violated the airspace of NATO members including Poland and Denmark, and three MiG-31 fighters entered Estonian airspace for 12 minutes. These incursions were unusually aggressive and appeared aimed at intimidating and dividing the alliance amid stalled Ukraine negotiations. NATO forces intercepted the fighters with Italian F-35s, scrambled jets and shot down several drones, and established Eastern Sentry, an enhanced coordinated eastern defense including counter-drone measures.
Read at The Atlantic
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