Key Points and Summary – Germany scrambled Eurofighters—joined by Swedish JAS 39 Gripens—to intercept a Russian IL-20 flying unidentified over the Baltic Sea, an encounter that ended without incident.
-It follows September breaches: Russian drones over Poland (triggering Article 4), sightings in Romania, and reported MiG-31 incursions into Estonia, which also invoked Article 4.
JAS 39 Gripen Fighter from Back in 2017. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-Asked if the U.S. would aid NATO members amid escalation, President Trump said, “Yeah, I would,” without detailing actions.
-Meanwhile, the first PURL-funded weapons—Patriot and HIMARS missiles—arrived for Ukraine.
-Ahead of a New York meeting with Trump, President Zelenskyy urged allies to “stop wasting time,” pressing for tougher Russia sanctions and hinting at a possible trilateral with Putin.
German Jets Scramble to Intercept Russian Surveillance Plane
In another example of the Russia-Ukraine war threatening to spill over into Europe, Germany says it scrambled fighter jets to “intercept and track a Russian surveillance plane flying unidentified over the Baltic Sea, The Independent reported on Monday.
The Russian jet, per the report, was an IL-20, while the German Eurofighter Typhoons were joined by two Swedish JAS 39 Gripen jets. The confrontation, per the report, “ended without incident.”
While this incident involved a spy plane and not a drone, it follows multiple incidents throughout September, including the incident in which Russian drones were shot down over Polish airspace, leading to the scrambling of Polish jets and a declaration of Article 4. The following week, a second NATO country, Romania, spotted a drone in its airspace.
In the Romania incident, per The BBC, two F-16 jets that were monitoring Romania’s border with Ukraine had spotted the Russian drones.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the second incursion “an obvious expansion of the war by Russia.”
Later, on Friday, another incursion was reported, this time in Estonia, with Russian MiG-31 fighter jets reportedly entering Estonian airspace. Estonia then invoked Article 4 as well, which will lead to NATO meetings later this week.
A French Air and Space Force Rafale C from Mont-de-Marsan, Fighter Regiment 2/30, Normandie-Niémen, receives fuel from a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker from the 100th Air Refueling Wing, RAF Mildenhall, England, during exercise Atlantic Trident 25 over Finland, June 26, 2025. Atlantic Trident 25 is a recurring multinational training exercise between the U.S., U.K. and France to train in an interoperable environment, refining operational integration and ensuring Allied forces can seamlessly secure the Euro-Atlantic region. Finland hosted this iteration of the training series for the first time. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Christopher Campbell)
CNN, last week, reported that intelligence agencies are split on whether the Russian drone excursion was intentional, although there’s little doubt that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been acting more aggressively of late when it comes to confronting NATO.
Trump Responds
According to The Independent, U.S. President Donald Trump was asked on Sunday if the U.S. would aid NATO members if Russia kept escalating, and he replied, “Yeah, I would,” although the president, questioned by reporters while en route to Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, did not share specifics about exactly what the United States would do.
Trump, over the years, has gone back and forth on whether he even believes in the NATO alliance, and spent much of his first term as president demanding that NATO allies spend more money on defense.
But earlier this spring, as part of his frustration with Putin for not moving towards a peace deal, Trump agreed to provide Ukraine with additional arms, with NATO allies funding that aid.
The first tranche of those weapons was delivered last week, under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL). They represented the first new weapons to Ukraine authorized under the second Trump Administration, although the current administration has been delivering weapons previously authorized by the Biden Administration.
The new weapons included Patriot and HIMARS missiles, Zelenskyy confirmed earlier this month.
“It’s the stuff they’ve been asking for. A lot of stuff,” an administration official told Reuters last week. “It’s the flow that’s allowed them to stabilize the lines thus far.”
Zelenskyy: Don’t Waste Time
Meanwhile, The Guardian reported this week that Zelenskyy, who is set to meet with Trump later this week in New York, has called on Ukraine’s allies to “stop wasting time.”
Zelenskyy plans to ask Trump to impose more sanctions on Russia, an idea Trump has been open to, provided all NATO allies stop buying oil from Russia, while agreeing to place tariffs on China. Hungary and Slovakia have been among the holdouts who are reluctant to stop doing business with Russia.
“President Trump expects strong action from Europe. I think we are wasting a lot of time if sanctions are not imposed or some steps are not taken, that we very much expect from him [Trump]”, Zelenskyy said on Saturday, per The Guardian.
The Ukrainian leader added that he would be interested in a “trilateral” meeting with both Trump and Putin.
Zelenskyy’s wife, during the New York visit, is expected to meet with First Lady Melania Trump, who is “widely seen as being more sympathetic to Kyiv than the president,” per The Guardian.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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