Nato scrambles fighter jets after 'cruel' Vladimir Putin breaches ANOTHER country's airspace

Nato's Baltic air policing mission brought together Eurofighter Typhoon jets to intercept the aircraft - incoming from Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania.

Having departed the Russian territory, an SU-30 fighter jet and Il-78 transporter plane entered Lithuania's airspace for 18 seconds, straying around half a mile over Lithuania.

In 2015, Nato ally Turkey shot down a Russian jet in its airspace after just 17 seconds.

Following a recent string of incidents involving Russian aircraft breaching European countries' airspace, Lithuania granted powers to its army to shoot down any unmanned drones which enter its skies.

Mr Nauseda said after the incident on Thursday: "I strongly condemn the violation of Lithuanian airspace by the fighter jet and transport plane of the Russian Federation from a Kaliningrad region site.

"This is a cruel violation of international law and territorial sovereignty of Lithuania and we have to react to this."

Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene said: "This incident once again shows that Russia is behaving like a terrorist state, disregarding international law and the security of neighbouring countries."

The nation's Defence Ministry added: "Our forces acted quickly with Nato jets on patrol. Lithuania remains strong and ready. Every inch of our country is protected."

One Nato official said: "This is another demonstration of Nato's readiness to respond to any developments and ability to ensure the safety of the Alliance's airspace."

However, the Russian Defence Ministry rejected the accusation, claiming that none of the SU-30 jets training in Kaliningrad on Thursday violated the borders of other countries.

Aircraft from Moscow have repeatedly breached the airspace of European countries over the past month.

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On September 19, three Russian military jets entered Estonia's skies for 12 minutes before being escorted out by Nato fighters.

Moscow once again denied the claims, instead accusing Estonia of trying to increase East-West tensions.

Nine days before, more than 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace.

Some were shot down by Nato jets, marking the first time a member of the alliance had fired on Russian targets since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

Sir Keir Starmer is set to host Volodymyr Zelensky and other leaders in London on Friday to discuss how to boost Ukraine's defences and put more pressure on Moscow as part of the "coalition of the willing", an initiative led by the Prime Minister and France's Emmanuel Macron.

Sir Keir said: "The only person involved in this conflict who does not want to stop the war is President Putin."

He added: "Time and again we offer Mr Putin the chance to end his needless invasion, to stop the killing and recall his troops, but he repeatedly rejects those proposals and any chance of peace."

The Prime Minister is expected to urge leaders to increase the provision of long-range weapons after British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles successfully hit a chemical plant in Bryansk, Russia.

But on Thursday, EU leaders failed to agree upon a €140billion loan to Kyiv.

The plan had been to use money taken from around €190billion in frozen sovereign Russian assets to give Ukraine a "reparations loan", but Belgium maintained its opposition to the idea.

Ahead of the vote, Alan Mendoza of the Henry Jackson Society think tank warned GB News of "interesting legal pitfalls" in the asset seizures - "hence why the Belgians want a guarantee".

However, he called for Europe to press on, saying: "It’s complicated but why allow the Russians to sit on their oil money? It’s not as if they earned it in any way,"