Japanese jets fire warning flares to make Russian plane leave its airspace after unprecedented violation

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Japanese fighter jets fired warning flares at a Russian reconnaissance plane after it repeatedly breached the neighbouring country’s airspace, Tokyo said, as tensions rise over Moscow’s increasing military cooperation with China in the region.

A Russian Il-38 military patrol plane entered Japanese airspace for up to a minute over three instances near the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, above Rebun Island, the defence ministry said.

The military scrambled an undisclosed number of F-15 and F-35 fighter jets which fired flares at the Russian aircraft after it apparently ignored their warnings, defence minister Minoru Kihara said.

“The airspace violation was extremely regrettable," Mr Kihara said.

He said Japan "strongly protested" to Russia through diplomatic channels and demanded preventive measures.

"We will carry out our warning and surveillance operations as we pay close attention to their military activities," he said, calling the use of flares a legitimate response to the alleged airspace violation.

"We plan to use it without hesitation,” he said.

The incident took place the same day as Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida met with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky in New York and discussed Tokyo’s energy aid to Kyiv as its war against Russia grinds on into the third year.

"Restoring our energy supply after Russian shelling and preparing for winter are tasks we are actively working on now," Mr Zelensky said in a post on the Telegram app.

"Together with prime minister Fumio Kishida, we discussed the situation in the energy sector."

Japan is one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters in Asia, giving substantial material and financial support, including $4.5bn this year alone.

Japan has also provided Kyiv equipment for restoring and increasing the capacity of its electricity network to get through winter amid Russia‘s continued strikes on energy infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Japanese defence officials have voiced concerns over Russia and China stepping up military cooperation in the region, with Chinese warplanes engaging in assertive activity around Japanese waters.

These concerns have prompted Tokyo to significantly reinforce the defences of southwestern Japan, including remote islands that are considered key to Japan’s defence strategy in the region.

Earlier in September, another Russian military aircraft flew around southern Japanese airspace. It was after a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft briefly violated Japan’s southern airspace in late August.

According to Japan’s military, it scrambled jets nearly 669 times between April 2023 and March 2024, about 70 per cent of the time against Chinese military aircraft, though these incidents did not include airspace violations.

Russia and Japan have been locked in a territorial dispute over islands near Hokkaido that were seized by the Soviet Union during the final days of World War II.

Moscow is yet to issue a response to Tokyo’s allegations.