New support pledges for NATO's Eastern Sentry airspace mission

There have been further pledges of support for the new NATO mission to secure the airspace on the eastern flank of the defence alliance's territory.

The United Kingdom announced on Monday that it would participate with Typhoon fighter jets.

Spain will also soon announce contributions, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) said in the Belgian city of Mons.

Additionally, SHAPE stated that Italy and Sweden have also signalled their assistance. Citing government sources, The Italian news agency ANSA reported that Italy intends to provide two Eurofighter jets.

The mission named Eastern Sentry was launched on Friday in response to alleged deliberate airspace violations by Russian drones in Poland. It aims to mobilize additional surveillance and air-defence capabilities.

Germany is providing around four Eurofighter jets for Eastern Sentry to participate in armed protection flights over Poland.

So far, France is also involved with three Rafale fighter jets, the Czech Republic with three helicopters, and Denmark with two F-16s and an air-defence frigate.

The United Kingdom initially did not specify how many jets would be part of the mission.

First alert launch on Saturday

The first mission as part of Eastern Sentry occurred on Saturday when, according to NATO, a French Rafale deployed to Poland was alerted due to approaching Russian drones. However, no flying objects ultimately entered Polish airspace, it said.

The massive NATO airspace violation occurred earlier in the week, coinciding with a Russian attack on Ukraine. According to official reports, more than 10 Russian drones of the Shahed type flew into Polish airspace. Several of them were shot down.

According to Western politicians, there are indications that the airspace violation was not accidental. However, it remains unclear whether the drones were programmed to destroy targets on NATO territory or were possibly intended only as a provocation or test of NATO's air defence.