The Lithuanian armed forces said that at approximately 6:00 p.m. local time on Thursday, two Russian aircraft — an SU-30 and an IL-78 — flew about 765 yards into Lithuanian airspace, The Associated Press reported. The aircraft allegedly flew away after approximately 18 seconds.

“This evening, Russian military planes violated Lithuanian airspace. This is a blatant breach of international law and territorial integrity of Lithuania. Once again, it confirms the importance of strengthening European air defense readiness,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda posted on X.

NATO WARNS RUSSIA AFTER POLAND SHOOTS DOWN ‘HUGE NUMBER’ OF DRONES THAT VIOLATED ITS AIRSPACE

Lithuania accused Russia of violating its airspace, leading to the scrambling of two jets on a NATO mission. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images; Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters)

Nausėda announced that the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs would summon representatives from the Russian embassy in Vilnius “to protest against reckless and dangerous behavior.” The ministry later confirmed on X that the Russian charge d‘affaires was summoned in protest of the airspace violation.

“Russia must cease its aggressive behavior, respect international law and the borders of neighboring states,” the ministry said in a post on X.

Russia’s defense ministry denied Lithuania’s claim, saying that SU-30 fighter jets were conducting training flights over the Kaliningrad region in strict compliance with the rules, the AP reported.

“The aircraft did not deviate from their flight route or violate the borders of other states, as confirmed by objective monitoring means,” the ministry said, according to the AP.

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on Dec. 19, 2024. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images)

RUSSIAN JETS CARRYING BALLISTIC MISSILES VIOLATE ESTONIAN AIRSPACE, FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS

Baltic nations have been on heightened alert amid Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine, according to the AP. The outlet added that the recent airspace incursions have fueled fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be testing NATO, though Moscow has denied this.

Poland, Denmark and Romania, which are all NATO member states, reported airspace violations by Russian drones in the last few months. In August, Romania was forced to scramble F-16 jets after Russia carried out a strike just half a mile from its territory as U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin ahead of the Kremlin leader’s Alaska summit with President Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, Trump called off a meeting with Putin that was set to take place in Budapest, Hungary. While the White House did not rule out the possibility of a future summit, Trump has criticized Putin for his lack of action to move toward peace with Ukraine.

President Donald Trump canceled a summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. (Getty Images)

Trump “feels as though, unfortunately, from the Russian side as of late, he has not seen enough interest in enough action in terms of moving the ball forward toward peace,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday.

“And so a meeting between these two leaders is not completely off the table. I think the president and the entire administration hope that one day that can happen again, but we want to make sure that there’s a tangible positive outcome out of that meeting, and that it’s a good use of the president’s time,” she added.

While sitting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that the meeting was canceled and that “it didn’t feel right” to him.

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“It just didn’t feel right to me,” Trump said Wednesday. “It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get, so I canceled it, but we’ll do it in the future.”

No plans for a future meeting have been announced since the cancellation of the summit in Hungary.

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy contributed to this report.

Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

The post NATO fighter jets scrambled after Russian planes allegedly violate airspace appeared first on My Blog.

In 2006, America’s NATO allies agreed to spend2% oftheir GDPon defense. After several years of little progress, the Obama administration secured anupdated agreementin 2014 that all would achieve this goal by 2024.Yet when Trump first entered office in 2017, onlyfiveof 28 nations had met thatmark.

The president and his national security team, including me, pressed our allies hard back then to live up to their commitments.By 2021, the number of NATO members doing so haddoubledand allied military spending increased considerably.

President Donald Trump, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaks during a news conference following the NATO Summit on June 25, 2025, in The Hague, Netherlands. On the summit agenda was a new defense investment plan that raised the target for defense spending to 5% of GDP. (Omar Havana/Getty Images)

Fast-forward to 2025.Aided by the ongoing war in Ukraine and a European fear of Vladimir Putin, Trump managed to achieve what many thought impossible: convince our NATO allies to spend a whopping5% of their GDPson defense!

In the economic space, the White House has similarly persuaded other nations to live up to past obligations when it comes to trade, using tariffs and other means where necessary to do so. This should be more apparent when it comes to future trade talks with China.

The communist state hasviolatedits obligations and reneged on numerous agreements for decades, from the theft of intellectual property to currency manipulation and the unfair subsidization of Chinese companies. During Trump’s first term, for example, the PRC notablynever purchasedthe $200 billion in additional U.S. exports it had promised.

China may be the most notorious country when it comes to reneging on commitments, but it’s not the only one.Many of America’s friends are also culpable, especially when it comes to deals made with U.S. companies.I have seen this during my own time in the private sector.

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This is enough of a problem that the House Appropriations Committee recently wrote in the Augustreportof their FY2026 spending bill for national security, Department of State and related programs that it “continues to be concerned by reports of commercial disputes between United States entities and host governments….”

The committee noted “particular concern” about “disputes over real property seized, held or expropriated by foreign governments.”The report went as far as to call out the governments of the “Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Honduras, Kuwait, and Mexico.”

Allegedly, Mexico’s state-owned oil company PermexowesAmerican contractors $1.2 billion. Kuwait is purportedlyaccusedof not paying the U.S. for its financial obligations – including for its Al Zour refinery, one of the largest oil refinery projects in the Middle East – where it reportedly has left U.S. and other contractors unpaid.

And,per the State Department, many U.S. companies operating in Honduras have “voiced concerns regarding politically motivated threats of criminal prosecution and expropriation of private assets.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to media at Ben Gurion International Airport, as he departs Tel Aviv for Qatar following an official visit, near Lod, Israel, Sept. 16, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

The committee concluded its report by directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio “to utilize the various tools of diplomatic engagement to…. facilitate the timely resolution of such disputes.” Such action, of course, begins with America’s diplomats abroad.

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U.S. ambassadors who are already on station in foreign capitals facing such matters should press their host governments on all levels. As should those persons being put forward to the Senate for such assignments – beginning with Amer Ghalib, who testified Thursday at a hearingto be America’s next ambassador to Kuwait (currently the only vacant post in the House Committee’s call out list).

Further, a separate congressional hearing on the broader issue of foreign governments allegedly backpedaling on their agreements with U.S. companies would also be quite helpful.

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The administration has appropriately spoken about protecting U.S. jobs, preserving American innovation, and ensuring fairness when it comes to global trade and business. We have seen the president’s team act on these instincts.And given the business backgrounds of many in the administration, they surely appreciate the challenges that American companies face when addressing business disputes with foreign governments.

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Just as the president did this year by getting our NATO allies to live up to their spending commitments when it comes to bolstering the alliance, applying this same focus and energy to help U.S. firms resolve their disputes with foreign governments would go a long way to helping American companies and workers.

If our allies and friends want the benefits of partnership with the United States, they must also honor their commitments – to our country, our businesses and our workers. That’s another good way to put America first and promote U.S. economic growth and prosperity.

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Mark T. Esper, Ph.D., served as the 27th secretary of Defense.

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