Russia tested NATO’s airspace 18 times in 2025 alone – a 200% surge that signals a dangerous shift

With each year of the Ukraine-Russia war, Moscow has upped its violations of neighboring states’ airspace – testing NATO’s resolve.

By: Frederic Lemieux, Georgetown University, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: February 19, 2026

Words: 1,238

Last Updated: 3 days, 11 hours ago

By Frederic Lemieux, Georgetown University

Russian aircraft, drones and missiles have violated NATO airspace dozens of times since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

Individually, many of these incidents appear minor: a drone crash here, a brief fighter incursion there, a missile discovered only after the fact.

But taken together, I believe the numbers tell a far more troubling story.

To get a full picture of the scale of violations,

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