Italian jets rushed in reaction to 4 Russian fighter jets that entered European airspace on Wednesday, according to the Italian Air Force.
The Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare) Twitter page shared a photo of two Italian aircraft. “#Scramble, rapid take-off for the Italians of the Eurofighter that was carrying out aerial surveillance activities in Poland to intercept four Russian fighters that had attacked Poles and Swedes. airspace before being forced to return to Kaliningrad airspace,” the page tweeted.
#Scramble, nuovo decollo immediato consistente con gli #Eurofighter italiani impegnati in attività di Air Policing in Polonia consistente con intercettare caccia russi che avevano interessato gli spazi aerei polacco e svedese prima di essere costretti a rientrare nello spazio aereo di Kaliningrad pic. twitter. com / xY6b3YAYI
The page tweeted a follow-up photo showing the takeoff of an Italian plane. He also clarified that the Russian plane entered first Polish airspace and then Swedish airspace.
#Scramble, quick takeoff for #ItalianAirForce #Eurofighters involved in aerial surveillance activities in Poland to intercept four Russian fighters after they entered Polish and then Swedish airspace, before being forced to return to Kaliningrad airspace pic. twitter. com/ Piy7YUIE2g
The incident comes at a time of great tension between Russia and the West and Ukraine, especially with the latter’s successful counter-offensive campaigns that have brought major military successes. In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently threatened to use nuclear weapons if his country wanted to protect itself from opposing an attack.
NATO press officer Matthias Eichenlaub told Newsweek that Italy has aircraft assigned to the alliance’s air surveillance project in the Baltic region. He also said NATO aircraft in the region “regularly intercept Russian army aircraft that comply with foreign aviation protection standards. “
Last Friday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed in favor of Ukraine its efforts to recover territory controlled by Russian forces: “Ukraine has, of course, the right to recover Ukrainian territory that is now occupied by Russian forces. That’s why we said. “
He continued: “So that they can protect themselves and also to continue liberating territory. And as I said, illegal annexation or attempted annexation of Ukrainian territory replaces that. It does not replace the nature of this conflict. “
The secretary-general also said that NATO would not fall victim to “nuclear blackmail” and fears of Russian retaliation.
“So we settle for the fact that by threatening to use nuclear weapons, authoritarian powers like Russia can get precisely what they want,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of the army’s successes achieved through its forces opposed to the Russians.
“The Ukrainian army is temporarily and powerfully advancing in the south of the country as a component of the ongoing defense operation,” he said in a speech on Tuesday.
“Just this week, since the Russian pseudo-referendum, dozens of population centers have been liberated. These are in Kherson, Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk together. “
Earlier this week, Ukraine said Russia had lost 44 tanks and 27 armored personnel carriers in a single day.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces gave its latest estimates of Russian casualties Tuesday morning on its Facebook page. The publication estimated that since the war began, Russia has lost around 60,800 troops, with another 370 casualties on Monday.
He also said 2,424 tanks have been lost since the war began on Feb. 24 and 44 tanks were destroyed on Monday.
In addition, Ukrainian forces destroyed 5,018 armored personnel cars and 27 were destroyed on Monday.
Throughout the war, Russia rarely released updates on its losses, and the figures it released were below Ukraine’s estimates.
Newsweek has reached out to Russia’s Foreign Ministry for comment.
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