Ukraine-Russia war latest: US and Canada scramble fighter jets to intercept Russian military planes off Alaska – UK Times

The US and Canada scrambled fighter jets to identify and intercept four Russian military planes off Alaska, amid growing concern over Moscow’s incursions into Nato airspace.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said it had detected and tracked two Russian Tu-95s and two Su-35s operating in the Alaskan Air Defence Identification Zone. They did not enter US or Canadian sovereign airspace.

Nine US aircraft – an E-3 Sentry command and control aircraft, four F-16s and four KC-135 tankers – scrambled to positively identify and intercept the Russian jets, it said.

It is the third time in about a month and the ninth time this year NORAD has reported such an incident involving Russian aircraft flying near Alaska.

The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace, it said.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has accused Nato and the European Union of using Ukraine to wage a “real war” against Moscow.

Lavrov claimed the West had provoked the conflict — a charge Britain dismissed as “false fantasy world distortions.”

Delivering his remarks at a G20 meeting of foreign ministers in New York, Lavrov repeated Moscow’s long-standing claim that it was Western actions that triggered the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“Another clear example is the crisis in Ukraine provoked by the West, through which NATO and the EU have … already declared a real war on my country and are directly involved in it,” he said.

He made no reference to Donald Trump’s comments earlier this week, instead repeating Russia’s position that it was the West’s actions that provoked the war in Ukraine.

Nato chief Mark Rutte has agreed with Donald Trump’s calls to shoot down any Russian aircraft that violate the alliance’s airspace.

Following a spate of incidents involving Russian aircraft crossing into eastern European airspace, Western diplomats have reportedly warned Moscow that further incidences will result in fighter jets being shot down.

In an interview with Fox News, Rutte endorsed this message, also delivered by Trump in public comments.