The Typhoon jets were launched from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray and joined by a Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

An RAF spokesman declined to provide more information on the operation until it is over.

An image taken from Flightradar24.com shows the refuelling tanker's involvement in the operation.

The RAF routinely intercepts aircraft approaching what it describes as the "UK area of interest".

An area of interest includes international airspace for which a nation holds some responsibility, such as air traffic control services.

It compares with the sovereign airspace, which exists above a country's territory.

In November 2021, jets were launched in response to Russian TU-160 Blackjack strategic bombers.

Officials said at the time the fighters escorted the Russian aircraft out of the "area of interest" and that the bombers did not enter UK airspace.

The latest incident comes as a Royal Navy warship has started to monitor two Russian naval vessels as they transit through the English Channel.

The French military said on Monday that it had monitored two Russian ships, the Soobrazitelniy and the Stoykiy, and had now handed over the responsibility to HMS Argyle, a Type 23 frigate, and the US Navy's USS Roosevelt.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence described the tasking as a "normal response".

Tass, Russia's state news agency, reported on 24 January that the two Russian vessels had left Kaliningrad to conduct "combat exercises".