NORAD intercepts Russian jets approaching Alaska, B.C.

A group of Russian fighter jets and bombers were intercepted in international airspace off the coast of Alaska Wednesday.

The North American Defense Agency (NORAD) says it spotted four Russian aircraft in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone — parts of which include the Alaskan panhandle, near the boundary with B.C.

NORAD says the jets did not enter Canadian or American sovereign airspace, but U.S. forces scrambled several fighters to intercept the Russian jets.

It’s the third time in about a month and the ninth time this year that NORAD has reported such an incident involving Russian aircraft flying near Alaska.

In Denmark, four airports had to be shut down Wednesday after unidentified drones were spotted in the surrounding airspace.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he believed Ukraine could win back all territory lost to Russia, marking a dramatic shift from the Republican’s repeated calls for Kyiv to make concessions to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

NATO warned Russia on Tuesday that it would use all means to defend against any further breaches of its airspace after the downing this month of Russian drones over Poland and Estonia’s report of an intrusion by Russian fighter jets last week.

Trump on Tuesday said NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace. Asked if the U.S. would back up NATO allies in such a situation, Trump said, “it depends on the circumstance.”

Following a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last month, Trump said he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But Putin has shown no interest in meeting with Zelenskyy, and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine.