On Saturday morning, several Russian military aircraft crossed the borders of South Korea's Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) in the East Sea area, forcing Seoul to quickly scramble its fighter jets, Yonhap News reported, citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea. The incident occurred at around 9:20 a.m. local time, when Russian aircraft successively entered the KADIZ, moving through the eastern and northern sectors of the zone. At the same time, as the military clarified, no violation of the country's territorial airspace was recorded.

According to South Korean authorities, the presence of Russian aircraft was detected in advance, before they entered the air defense zone. In response to the potential threat, the South Korean Air Force sent fighters to monitor and control the situation. The Joint Chiefs of Staff emphasized that the entry of Russian aircraft occurred during routine exercises and was probably not intended to provoke or violate sovereignty. KADIZ, as the military explained, is not part of the territorial space, but serves to identify foreign aircraft in order to avoid unintentional conflicts.