Three Russian fighter jets have violated Estonia’s airspace in an ‘unprecedentedly brazen’ incursion onto NATO territory.

Estonia’s foreign minister said the MiG-31 military planes,capable of carrying hypersonic missiles,intruded for 12 minutes – during which time they could have traversed broad swathes of the country.

NATO scrambled Italian F-35s stationed at a base there to intercept them.

The incursion happened just over a week after NATO planes downed Russian drones over Poland and heightened fears that the war in Ukraine could spill over.

Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said Russia violated Estonian airspace four times this year ‘but today’s incursion,involving three fighter aircraft entering our airspace,is unprecedentedly brazen’.

US President Donald Trump told reporters he will soon be briefed by aides on the reported incursion.

‘I don’t love it,’ he said,adding: ‘I don’t like when that happens. It could be big trouble,but I’ll let you know later.’

Russia’s violation of Poland’s airspace was the most serious cross-border incident into a NATO member country since the war in Ukraine began with Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022. Other alliance countries have reported similar incursions and drone crashes on their territory.

Image released by the Swedish Airforce shows a Russian MIG-31 fighter jet flying above the Baltic sea after violating Estonian air space (Picture: AFP via Getty)

The developments have increasingly rattled European governments as US -led efforts to stop the war in Ukraine have come to nothing.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas – a former Estonian prime minister – said: ‘This was no accident.’

She said: ‘On our side,we see that we must show no weakness because weakness is something that invites Russia to do more.

‘They are increasingly more dangerous — not only to Ukraine,but also to all the countries around Russia.’

Three Russian MiG-31 fighters violated Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland on Friday,Estonia said (Picture: AFP via Getty)

Russian President Vladimir Putin supervises the Russian-Belarusian joint military drills ‘Zapad 2025’ (West 2025) (Picture: EPA)

Estonia,along with fellow Baltic states Lithuania and Latvia and neighboring Poland,are staunch supporters of Ukraine.

Current Estonian PM Kristen Michal said his country had decided to ask NATO to open consultations under Article 4 of the alliance’s treaty.

Article 4,the shortest of the NATO treaty’s 14 articles,states that: ‘The Parties will consult together whenever,in the opinion of any of them,the territorial integrity,political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.’

Map showing NATO member states (Picture: Metro.co.uk)

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the UK ‘stands with’ Estonia after the breach.

Defence Secretary John Healey said: ‘This is yet another edition of the Putin playbook. Russia’s latest reckless and dangerous activity is the third violation of NATO airspace in recent days.

‘But Putin’s aggression only serves to strengthen the unity of NATO and our resolve to stand with Ukraine.

‘We are stepping up within NATO to contribute fighter jets to the new Eastern Sentry mission,strengthening Nato air defence on our eastern flank.

‘And we continue to support Estonia closely,including through our deployment of around 1,000 UK armed forces personnel under Operation Cabrit.’

@gergana.krasteva Polish and NATO forces scrambled fighter jets to shoot down a ‘huge number’ of Russian drones. My take is that the Kremlin is testing NATO’s collective security agreement. #worldnews #russia #poland #nato #putin

♬ original sound – Gergana Krasteva | Journalist

Earlier,the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency said there is ‘absolutely no evidence’ that Vladimir Putin wants to negotiate peace in Ukraine.

Richard Moore,chief of the Secret Intelligence Service,or MI6 as it is more commonly known,said Putin was ‘stringing us along’.

‘He seeks to impose his imperial will by all means at his disposal. But he cannot succeed,’ Moore said.

‘Bluntly,Putin has bitten off more than he can chew. He thought he was going to win an easy victory. But he — and many others — underestimated the Ukrainians.’

The war has continued unabated in the three years since Russia invaded its neighbor. Ukraine has accepted proposals for a ceasefire and a summit meeting,but Moscow has demurred.