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The newly appointed US ambassador to the United Nations has condemned Russia for its recent violations of NATO airspace.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: Over the last month, Russia has been accused of a series of provocative airspace violations involving multiple NATO member states. On September 19, three armed Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace for approximately 12 minutes, coming within 15 miles of the Estonian Parliament building in what officials described as an unprecedented breach. Just days earlier, at least 19 Russian drones crossed into Polish airspace amid a major aerial assault on Ukraine, prompting Poland to invoke NATO’s Article 4 for emergency consultations. Romania also reported that a Russian-origin Shahed drone had encroached on its territory around the same period. In response to these incidents, Moscow has dismissed the allegations as “groundless,” with Russian UN envoy Dmitry Polyansky accusing Estonia and its allies of engaging in “Russophobic hysteria” and interpreting events through an anti-Russian lens.

What’s going on now: In his first appearance before the UN Security Council, newly confirmed US ambassador Mike Waltz delivered a rebuke of Russia’s actions, warning that the United States and its NATO allies would not tolerate such provocations. “The United States and our allies will defend every inch of NATO territory,” Waltz said, directly referencing the recent incursions into Estonian and Polish airspace. He characterized the incidents as “dangerous behavior” and demanded that “Russia must urgently stop” these violations, which he said are bringing the region “closer to conflict than at any time in recent years.”

“We expect Russia to seek ways to de-escalate — not risk expansion,” he said, noting the potential consequences of drawing more nations into the conflict. Waltz warned that the repeated violations could signal either that Russia is “trying to escalate and pull more countries into this conflict with Ukraine, or doesn’t have full control of those who operate its fighter planes and drones,” calling both scenarios “very disconcerting.”

Waltz also invoked President Donald Trump’s ongoing diplomatic efforts, underscoring that the administration has been “focused, and spent an enormous amount of time and effort to end this horrific war between Russia and Ukraine.” He argued that, in this context, Russia’s actions appear even more reckless.

This all comes as speculation grows that Russia may be deliberately testing NATO’s response times and probing the alliance’s collective resolve.