Overview

• At a UN Security Council session, US UN envoy Michael Waltz pledged to defend every inch of NATO territory as Germany’s Johann Wadephul condemned a serious breach of international law.
• Estonia said three Russian MiG-31s entered its airspace for about twelve minutes on Sept. 19 near Vaindloo, a claim Russia’s UN deputy ambassador Dmitry Poliansky dismissed as unfounded.
• NATO ambassadors will meet Tuesday in Brussels under Article 4 at Estonia’s request to review responses and air-defense posture on the eastern flank.
• Forty-nine countries and the EU issued a joint declaration calling the incidents a dangerous escalation and citing a pattern that includes recent drone incursions in Poland and Romania.
• Poland hardened its stance, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski warning violators could be shot down, as NATO jets on Sunday scrambled to identify a Russian aircraft over the Baltic.