Russian Intercept Over Black Sea: Polish Border Police Aircraft Involved

A Russian Su-35 fighter jet intercepted a Polish border police aircraft, the L410 Turbolet, which was patrolling international airspace over the Black Sea. This account stems from statements issued by the Romanian Ministry of Defense and corroborating national authorities (citation: Romanian MOD). The incident occurred on May 5 around 13:20 local time, when the Polish aircraft was operating in international airspace near 60 kilometers east of Romania’s air boundaries, under the oversight of Frontex and in coordination with Romanian border police (citation: ministry statement). During the encounter, a Russian Su-35 approached the Polish plane, prompting a period of turbulence and signaling that control of the Polish aircraft had become seriously challenging (citation: Romanian MOD). In response, the Joint Air Operations Center in Torrejon placed two Romanian Air Force fighters and two Spanish Air Force fighters on alert to potentially provide air-policing support, though they were not required to take off (citation: regional defense brief).