3 Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonia’s airspace last Friday

Sunday’s Coverage: Europe’s Stubb and Pavel — We Must Be Prepared to Fight Russia

UPDATE 1014 GMT:

Ukraine has struck Russian Be-12 Chayka amphibious aircraft for the first time.

A special unit of Ukrainian military intelligence targeted the two warplanes in occupied Crimea on Sunday.

The Be-12 Chayka is equipped with systems for detecting and engaging submarines.

Ukrainian forces also struck four Russian Mi-8 helicopters, destroying three of them, and a radar station in Crimea.

UPDATE 0631 GMT:

At least three civilians have been murdered and at least three injured by Russia’s overnight strikes on the Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, and Kyiv regions.

Air defenses downed 132 of 141 drones launched by Russia across Ukraine. The other nine UAVs struck seven locations.

The fatalities, including a 75-year-old woman, were in Zaporizhzhia. At least five bombs hit civilian and industrial infrastructure, setting fires that destroyed or damaged 15 apartment blocks, 10 houses, non-residential buildings, and vehicles.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted, referring to this week’s UN General Assembly session:

Russia accompanies one of the world’s highest-level annual diplomatic events with killings. That is precisely why it is so important for this diplomatic week to be productive. Action must be taken so that murder and war do not become routine. Real, powerful pressure on Russia is needed; new joint steps from everyone in the world who believes that international law must work again.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The UN Security Council will meet on Monday over Russia’s violations of other countries’ airspace beyond its invasion of Ukraine.

Estonia requested the emergency meeting to discuss the overflight of three Russian MiG-31s last Friday. The fighter jets remained in Estonian airspace for 12 minutes before they were driven away by Italian F-35s.

Russia also launched 19 drones over Poland on September 10, and an UAV violated Romanian airspace three days later. On Sunday, two German Eurofighter jets were scrambled to intercept a Russian Il-20M surveillance aircraft, which had switched off its transponders and ignored requests to make contact, in international airspace above the Baltic Sea.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the overflights are “part of a broader pattern of escalation by Russia”: “This behavior requires an international response.”

NATO’s North Atlantic Council will meet on Tuesday to discuss the Russian violations.

On Sunday, Donald Trump finally joined the international condemnation of Moscow over the Estonian episode. Asking whether he would help defend European members if Russia escalated hostilities, the reality TV star told reporters: “Yeah, I would. I would.”

He delcared that he had been briefed over the situation: “We don’t like it.”

Trump’s reaction to the Russian drone incursion into Poland was that it “could have been a mistake”.