The incident occurred at 13:15 local time when a temporary flight restriction was in place because the president was at the Florida estate, according to NORAD. Fighter jets were scrambled and fired flares to get the pilot's attention, multiple reports indicate. The flares were used to communicate with the pilot and posed no danger to people on the ground, NORAD said. The plane was then escorted away without incident, according to multiple reports. Several similar intrusions have occurred recently, all handled without threat, the authority noted.
This comes against a backdrop of heightened Russian military activity near North American airspace. NORAD scrambled multiple fighter jets and other aircraft after Russian military aircraft were detected near Alaska. Two Russian Tupolev TU-142 military aircraft were spotted in international airspace in the Alaskan and Canadian Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ), according to NORAD. In response, NORAD launched two US Air Force F-35s, two F-22 fighter jets, four KC-135 refuelling aircraft, one E-3 AWACS, two Canadian CF-18 fighter aircraft, and one CC-150 refuelling tanker, multiple reports indicate. The Russian aircraft did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. This Russian activity in the Alaskan and Canadian ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, NORAD stated.
Additional Russian airspace incursions have been reported in Alaska's ADIZ. NORAD detected and tracked two Tu-95 long-range strategic bombers, two Su-35 fighter planes, and one A-50 spy plane crossing Alaska's coastal Air Defense Identification Zone on Thursday, according to research. NORAD responded by launching two F-16s, two F-35s, one E-3, and four KC-135s to intercept the planes, positively identify them, and escort them out of the ADIZ, the research indicates. Alaska's ADIZ is the point at which American and Canadian jurisdiction ends and is a defined stretch of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security, according to NORAD research. A similar occurrence took place last September, when two Tu-95s and two Su-35s were spotted in the same zone, prompting NORAD to send out an E-3 early warning and control aircraft, followed by four F-16s and four KC-135 tanker planes to lead them clear, research indicates. NORAD said at that time that although the presence of Russian craft in the ADIZ is a common sight and non-aggressive, it could be interpreted as a test of U.S. and NATO preparedness, according to research. A month earlier, a Cold War-era Russian IL-20 COOT military reconnaissance aircraft was spotted four times in the course of one week, research shows. In September 2024, NORAD posted a short video online of a Russian jet flying just a matter of feet away from one of its own planes, research indicates. Earlier that summer, Russian and Chinese planes jointly entered the ADIZ, which a U.S. defense official told CBS marked the first time Beijing had ever encroached on Alaska, according to research.
Meanwhile, in Europe, a Russian SU-30 fighter jet entered Estonian airspace for around a minute on Wednesday near Vaindloo Island in the Gulf of Finland, an official from the Baltic state said. The Italian Air Force, based at the Ämari Air Base, quickly deployed a military plane to monitor the jet, according to Estonia's foreign minister Margus Tsahkna. There was no direct threat to Estonian security, Tsahkna and former head of the Estonian defence forces Riho Terras stated. The jet did not have a flight plan or communicate with Estonian air traffic control, Delfi.ee reports. Estonia has summoned the acting head of the Russian diplomatic mission in Tallinn in response to the airspace violation, multiple reports indicate.
Further north, Norwegian fighter jets were scrambled on Wednesday at 09:30 from Evenes to a Russian surveillance plane, an Ilyushin Il-20M, multiple reports indicate. The plane flew with its transponder off in international airspace over Finnmark, according to multiple reports. F-35 jets shadowed the plane along the Norwegian coast before it turned north again off Vesterålen, made two more trips south as far as Lofoten, and returned to the Kola Peninsula around 13:30, multiple reports indicate. Such incidents are both ordinary and expected, especially during large exercises like Cold Response currently taking place in Northern Norway, the Norwegian Defence said in a press release. Last year, Norwegian fighter jets scrambled to 53 Russian planes, multiple reports indicate.
In Latvia, the Latvian Air Force identified a foreign unmanned aircraft that entered Latvian airspace from Russia, the Latvian Defence Ministry said. Warning systems in the Kraslava municipality registered an explosion-like sound, leading soldiers, police, and border guards to find wreckage from the crashed drone, multiple reports indicate.
Separately, the Russian oil port Ust-Luga in the Gulf of Finland was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, Reuters reported. Around 40% of Russian oil exports have been temporarily knocked out, the news agency stated.
In Finland, two drones crashed during the day, with Finnish authorities and military expert Joakim Paasikivi believing they went off course, multiple reports indicate.
In Sweden, a threat was made against Kapareskolan in Onsala, and it will be closed tomorrow, GP reports. The threat was expressed on social media and involved a bomb threat for Monday, according to Stigert Pettersson, administrative chief. Police will be visible around the school tomorrow, a post on a learning platform stated.
In Italy, several valuable artworks by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse were stolen from a museum near Parma, multiple reports indicate. The theft occurred a few days ago but became known only on Sunday, with Italian police investigating, according to multiple reports. Among the stolen works are "Les Poissons" by Renoir, "Still Life with Cherries" by Cézanne, and "Odalisque on the Terrace" by Matisse, Italian media reported.
In an unrelated incident in Sweden, a Bobcat overturned outside Degeberga on Sunday evening, with the machine and driver ending up in a watercourse, Kristianstadsbladet reports. The driver was conscious and able to speak but not feeling well, and was taken by ambulance, according to Tony Johansson, duty officer at the rescue service.
These events unfold within a broader geopolitical context of U.S.-Russia tensions. Relations between Washington and Moscow remain uneasy at present as President Donald Trump attempts to thrash out a peace deal to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, as the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion draws near, research indicates. Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted he is open to a solution to the war and met with Trump in Alaska last year, but has so far refused to commit without major territorial concessions, which Ukraine has refused to grant, to the evident frustration of the Americans, research shows.