President Donald Trump has vowed to defend Poland and the Baltic states following escalating tensions with Russia in Estonia. The pledge came after Trump told reporters that he had not been briefed on recent NATO airspace violations by Russian fighter jets.
When asked whether he would defend Poland and the Baltic nations, Trump simply responded, “I will.” On Estonia, he added, “We don’t like it.”
Estonian officials reported that three Russian MIG-31 fighters entered their airspace on Friday without permission, ignoring signals from Italian jets scrambled to intercept them. While Russia’s Ministry of Defense denied any violation, Estonia confirmed the breach through radar and visual tracking. Analysts suggest such moves may be aimed at diverting Western attention from Ukraine.
The jets entered Estonian airspace near Vaindloo, a small island in the Gulf of Finland, between 9:58 a.m. and 10:10 a.m. local time. This marks Russia’s fourth known violation of Estonian airspace this year. Col. Ants Kiviselg, commander of Estonia’s Military Intelligence Center, said it remains unclear whether the intrusion was deliberate, but the pilots likely knew they had crossed the border. Despite the breach, he noted, the jets did not pose a direct military threat.
The Russian aircraft originated near Petrozavodsk in northwestern Russia and were en route to Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea. Two Finnish jets initially tracked the aircraft before Italian F-35s from Estonia’s Ämari Air Base escorted them back into international airspace.
This latest incident follows an earlier event in which 20 Russian drones reportedly entered Polish airspace, further heightening NATO’s concerns about Russian provocations in the region.
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