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Two Spanish fighter jets were scrambled while on NATO air policing missions after Russian aircraft violated Lithuanian airspace.
The Lithuanian armed forces said that at approximately 6:00 p.m. local time on Thursday, two Russian aircraft — an SU-30 and an IL-78 — flew about 765 yards into Lithuanian airspace, The Associated Press reported. The aircraft allegedly flew away after approximately 18 seconds.
“This evening, Russian military planes violated Lithuanian airspace. This is a blatant breach of international law and territorial integrity of Lithuania. Once again, it confirms the importance of strengthening European air defense readiness,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda posted on X.
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Lithuania accused Russia of violating its airspace, leading to the scrambling of two jets on a NATO mission. (Mike Segar/Reuters; Sputnik/Mikhail Tereshchenko/Pool via Reuters)
Nausėda announced that the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs would summon representatives from the Russian embassy in Vilnius “to protest against reckless and dangerous behavior.” The ministry later confirmed on X that the Russian charge d‘affaires was summoned in protest of the airspace violation.
“Russia must cease its aggressive behavior, respect international law and the borders of neighboring states,” the ministry said in a post on X.
Russia’s defense ministry denied Lithuania’s claim, saying that SU-30 fighter jets were conducting training flights over the Kaliningrad region in strict compliance with the rules, the AP reported.
“The aircraft did not deviate from their flight route or violate the borders of other states, as confirmed by objective monitoring means,” the ministry said, according to the AP.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on Dec. 19, 2024. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)
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Baltic nations have been on heightened alert amid Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine, according to the AP. The outlet added that the recent airspace incursions have fueled fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be testing NATO, though Moscow has denied this.
Poland, Denmark and Romania, which are all NATO member states, reported airspace violations by Russian drones in the last few months. In August, Romania was forced to scramble F-16 jets after Russia carried out a strike just half a mile from its territory as U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin ahead of the Kremlin leader’s Alaska summit with President Donald Trump.
Earlier this week, Trump called off a meeting with Putin that was set to take place in Budapest, Hungary. While the White House did not rule out the possibility of a future summit, Trump has criticized Putin for his lack of action to move toward peace with Ukraine.
President Donald Trump canceled a summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. (Getty Images)
Trump “feels as though, unfortunately, from the Russian side as of late, he has not seen enough interest in enough action in terms of moving the ball forward toward peace,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday.
“And so a meeting between these two leaders is not completely off the table. I think the president and the entire administration hope that one day that can happen again, but we want to make sure that there’s a tangible positive outcome out of that meeting, and that it’s a good use of the president’s time,” she added.
While sitting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that the meeting was canceled and that “it didn’t feel right” to him.
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“It just didn’t feel right to me,” Trump said Wednesday. “It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get, so I canceled it, but we’ll do it in the future.”
No plans for a future meeting have been announced since the cancellation of the summit in Hungary.
Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy contributed to this report.