Two Russian military aircraft entered Lithuania\u2019s airspace for 18 seconds on Thursday, the Lithuanian military confirmed. Officials identified the planes as an Su-30 fighter jet and an Il-78 refueling tanker. The aircraft reportedly crossed from Russia\u2019s Kaliningrad region around 1600 CET during a refueling exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon jets from NATO\u2019s Baltic Air Police immediately scrambled and began patrolling the area. Lithuania\u2019s President Gitanas Naus\u0117da condemned the act on X, calling it a \u201cblatant breach of international law and territorial integrity.\u201d In a video statement, he said, \u201cI strongly condemn this violation by Russian aircraft from the Kaliningrad region. We must respond to this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moscow has not issued a statement regarding the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NATO and the European Union remain on high alert after several airspace violations allegedly involving Russian aircraft in recent weeks. NATO warned Moscow in late September that it would defend its members using every means available under international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The warning followed multiple incidents, including Russian drones shot down over Poland and Estonia\u2019s report of unauthorized Russian jets. The 10 September drone incident over Poland marked the first direct encounter between NATO and Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Estonia later reported that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered its airspace for 12 minutes without permission, a claim the Kremlin denied. European leaders expressed concern, questioning NATO\u2019s readiness to counter increasing Russian provocations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NATO\u2019s Secretary General Mark Rutte announced the Eastern Sentry programme to deter further Russian incursions and support Poland after its airspace breach. \u201cDrones entering our skies\u2014intentional or not\u2014are unacceptable,\u201d Rutte said. \u201cAllies stand fully with Poland. We must confront aggression and defend every NATO member.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, Denmark\u2019s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Russian involvement \u201ccannot be ruled out\u201d after drone sightings forced Copenhagen airport to close for hours on 23 September. She warned that such incidents reflect the challenging times Europe faces. The Kremlin dismissed the claims as \u201cunfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Norway, officials temporarily closed Oslo airport on 22 September after reports of possible drones. Norwegian authorities said Russia violated their airspace three times in 2025, though they remain uncertain whether Monday\u2019s event was deliberate or accidental. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr St\u00f8re stated, \u201cRegardless of intent, this is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two Russian military aircraft entered Lithuania\u2019s airspace for 18 seconds on Thursday, the Lithuanian military confirmed. Officials identified the planes as an Su-30 fighter jet and an Il-78 refueling tanker. The aircraft reportedly crossed from Russia\u2019s Kaliningrad region around 1600 CET during a refueling exercise. Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon jets from NATO\u2019s Baltic Air Police immediately<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pappusaha.com\/euronews24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}