NATO fighter jets intercepted three Russian warplanes that entered Estonia’s airspace on Friday, prompting sharp condemnation from Estonian leaders and fresh warnings of rising tensions along the alliance’s eastern flank. According to Estonia’s foreign ministry, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets crossed into Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland without authorization and remained inside the country’s borders for 12 minutes. Italian F-35s deployed to Estonia under NATO’s Eastern Sentry mission responded swiftly, backed by Swedish and Finnish aircraft, forcing the Russian jets to retreat. Estonia’s foreign ministry also summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires to formally protest the incident. Just last week, NATO jets shot down multiple Russian drones that strayed into Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine—marking the first time NATO forces had fired on Russian equipment since the start of the war.