BRUSSELS: NATO air forces had been scrambled greater than 300 occasions in response to Russian army plane in 2023, the treaty organisation mentioned on Friday (Dec 29).
“The overwhelming majority of aerial encounters between NATO and Russian jets had been protected {and professional}. Breaches of NATO airspace by Russian army plane remained uncommon and customarily of brief length,” NATO mentioned, including most intercepts occurred over the Baltic Sea.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February final yr, NATO considerably strengthened its jap flank air defences with extra fighter jets, surveillance flights and ground-based air defences.
“NATO fighter jets are on obligation across the clock, able to scramble in case of suspicious or unannounced flights close to the airspace of our Allies,” NATO spokesperson Dylan White mentioned in a press release.
Earlier on Friday, Russia launched certainly one of its greatest missile assaults on Ukraine of the struggle to date, killing 12 civilians, wounding dozens extra and hitting residential buildings in Kyiv, the south and west of the nation.