US Ambassador to the UN Security Council: America stands with its NATO allies, Russia must stop dangerous behavior

(Patria) - The United States has confirmed it will defend NATO territory from incursions after Russia repeatedly violated the airspace of European alliance members.

"The United States stands with its NATO allies in the face of these airspace violations, and I want to take this opportunity to reiterate and emphasize that the United States and our allies will defend every inch of NATO territory," said US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz at today's emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.

Russia should urgently stop such dangerous behavior, Waltz said.

"We expect Russia to seek ways to de-escalate, not to risk expanding (the conflict)," Waltz added.

He stressed that US President Donald Trump has invested a tremendous amount of time and effort to end the "terrible" war between Russia and Ukraine. Russia should directly negotiate with Ukraine to stop the conflict, Waltz said.

Estonia announced on Friday that three Russian fighter jets violated its airspace for 12 minutes. A week earlier, a Russian drone entered Polish airspace during a Russian air attack on Ukraine.