Three Russian jets enter Estonian airspace as NATO scrambles fighters
Three fighters spent 12 minutes in NATO skies on Friday after Poland and Romania also saw incursions in recent weeks
Three Russian fighter jets have violated Estonian airspace, the country's government has said.
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The Estonian government said that three MiG-31 aircraft entered Estonian territory and headed towards the capital Tallinn on Friday.
The jets, capable of carrying hypersonic missiles, reportedly circled for around 12 minutes before NATO scrambled Italian F-35s to repel them.
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Estonia is the third NATO member to have their airspace entered by Russian aircraft in the past 10 days.
Poland and Romania have also had their skies invaded by drones - but Estonia is the first to see manned aircraft above its territory in an escalation of the hostilities.
Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said that Russia had violated the nation's airspace "four times in a year which is unacceptable in itself, but today's violation, during which three fighter jets entered our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen".
"Russia's ever-increasing testing of borders and aggressiveness must be responded to by rapidly strengthening political and economic pressure," he added.
Today @MFAestonia summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires over another violation of Estonia’s airspace, when three Russian MiG-31s entered our airspace over the Gulf of Finland for 12 minutes.
— Margus Tsahkna (@Tsahkna) September 19, 2025
This is an unprecedented and brazen intrusion — clear proof of Russia’s growing…
He later posted on X: "Today [the Estonian foreign ministry] summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires over another violation of Estonia’s airspace, when three Russian MiG-31s entered our airspace over the Gulf of Finland for 12 minutes.
"This is an unprecedented and brazen intrusion — clear proof of Russia’s growing aggression.
"Such actions cannot be tolerated and must be met with swift political and economic pressure."
On September 14, two F-16s tracked a drone in Romania until it left Nato airspace without causing any damage or casualties.
In response, Romanian foreign minister Toiu Oana wrote on X: "People in Romania were never in danger but such actions by Russia are unacceptable and reckless.
"Romania condemns Russia’s behaviour and takes the necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and security.
"We are in constant contact with our EU and NATO partners and allies on the provocations of Russia, including this latest one."
It came after Poland also saw the unmanned aircraft enter its airspace on September 10, the first time that Russian military hardware had entered the bloc's airspace since the onset of the Ukraine war in 2022.
After that incursion, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Russia had brought Poland "the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two".