Czech leader calls for shooting down Russian jets violating NATO airspace

Czech President Petr Pavel has stated that Russian military aircraft should be shot down if they violate the airspace of NATO countries, Novinky reports.

Pavel emphasised that such measures, while escalating tensions in Europe, are necessary to send a clear signal to Russia that violations are unacceptable.

He stressed that allies must respond appropriately, including with military actions if required.

“I am forced to call this extremely irresponsible behaviour, because an airspace violation is a trigger for defence mechanisms and, therefore, the destruction of such an aircraft. And no one, neither on our side nor on Russia’s side, would want that,” he said.

Pavel's remarks come amid recent Russian multiple violations of the NATO airspace.

For instance, on September 19, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonian airspace near Vaindloo Island for 12 minutes—the longest such incursion on record. The jets lacked flight plans, transponders, and radio contact, prompting NATO's Italian F-35s (under Baltic Air Policing) to intercept and escort them out. Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna called it "unprecedentedly brazen," marking the fifth violation of 2025. Tallinn invoked NATO Article 4 consultations—the second such activation this month—for urgent allied talks.

On September 9-10 night, up to 19 Russian drones (launched from Belarus) breached Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine, with NATO jets downing four. Polish PM Donald Tusk confirmed the incursions, prompting NATO's new "Eastern Sentry" air defence mission, involving 10 allies to bolster the eastern flank. This led to Poland's first Article 4 invocation of 2025.

In Romanian airspace, a Russian drone lingered for nearly 50 minutes during another Ukraine strike in mid-September, the second such event this month. NATO condemned it as a "dangerous provocation."

By Khagan Isayev