NATO fighter jets were scrambled 570 times to monitor Russian military flights in international airspace last year, according to a report by Radio Free Europe. The figure implies that the number of such intercepts almost doubled from 2021, a NATO spokesman confirmed after a report by the German media group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. NATO sources claim that the rise was not only owing to more activity by the Russian military, but also to a more robust NATO presence on the bloc’s eastern flank because of the Ukraine-Russia crisis. Hence, considerably more aircraft were available for air surveillance there. Most of the intercepts happened over the Baltic Sea. France and Germany could be “game-changers,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said following a photo-op at the Élysée Palace when he was in France for a visit. French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated Paris’ backing for Kyiv, adding, “As long as Russia continues to attack, we will continue to adapt and moderate the necessary military support to preserve Ukraine and its future.”
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