NATO Jets Intercept Russian Warplanes Carrying Supersonics

It comes amid urgent efforts by NATO to bolster the eastern frontier with greater defences, after Russia's unprecedented intrusion into Polish airspace on September 9 when up to 23 drones entered the territory.

Meanwhile, Putin has put NATO further on edge by conducting war games with Belarus as part of the Zapad 2025 drills, which have historically been used to test different military strategies ahead of invasions.

Both were fitted with Kh-31 air-to-surface missiles, weapons capable of traveling at speeds up to Mach 3 as they penetrate modern ship defences and destroy enemy vessels.

The Il-20M reconnaissance plane also detected specialises in electronic intelligence (ELINT) and communications intelligence (COMINT), enabling Moscow to keep track of NATO networks.

Sweden and Denmark's quick response shows how Putin's mounting aggression has put Europe on high alert, with some military experts warning that NATO must take seriously the recent drone incursions or risk invasion.

In scenes from the Zapad 2025 drills in Belarus, fighter jets, attack drones and helicopters flew over a training ground hemmed in by trees as infantry practiced firing automatic weapons, mortars and missile systems and riding into combat on motorcycles.

The exercises unnerved some neighbouring countries, as Moscow's war in Ukraine grinds towards its fourth year. Warsaw temporarily closed its border with Belarus as a precaution.

Long a staunch Russian ally, President Alexander Lukashenko allowed Moscow to use Belarus to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, and has since allowed Russia to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Poland sent 40,000 troops to be deployed on its eastern border to prepare for the drills, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk warning that the West is at its closest to open conflict since World War Two.

Just over the past two weeks, Zelensky said on Telegram, Russia has launched more than 3,500 drones, more than 2,500 powerful glide bombs and almost 200 missiles at targets inside Ukraine.