NATO has told Russia it “must stop” its “reckless” violations of airspace, which “endanger lives”. It comes with Donald Trump speaking at the UN today after six more countries joined the UK in officially recognising a Palestinian state yesterday. Follow live below.
Tuesday 23 September 2025 12:55, UK
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Donald Trump’s secretary of state has been defending US policy on Russia and the war in Ukraine, in an interview with our US partner network NBC.
Marco Rubio argues in an interview with the network’s Today programme that “the minute we go heavy on the sanctions and everything else, our ability to act as a broker to bring about peace is diminished”.
He does concede that the US might have to impose tougher sanctions on Russia “at some point” in the future, though.
It comes after we’ve been hearing from NATO about the extent of the Russian threat, and recent reckless behaviour by its military.
Rubio criticised European countries that continue to buy Russian fossil fuels, which he called “absurd,” and pushed them to do more to put pressure on Russia – echoing arguments we heard from Trump on his state visit to the UK last week.
Some countries are “asking for the US to impose more sanctions, but there are countries in Europe that are not doing enough, so I think they need to do more,” Rubio said.
As we’ve been reporting, we expect to hear a speech from Trump at the UN later this afternoon.
One of the final questions in the news conference sees the NATO chief asked about recent comments from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Tusk has said Warsaw is willing to shoot down Russian jets and drones in any potential incursions.
This X post gives a sense of the kind of language Tusk is using….
Asked if NATO was willing to follow this, Rutte struck a more cautious tone.
He said: “I think what he [Tusk] said was, if necessary, we are willing to shoot down a plane, if necessary, and that comes back to what I said: we will always assess the situation, to see what immediate threat the plane poses.”
Rutte was then pressed further on this and whether Poland was able to act alone.
“I just commented on the prime minister and I would like to leave it at that,” Rutte said, dodging the second question.
The NATO news conference has now finished.
It’s “too early” to say whether last night’s drone incursion into Denmark’s airspace was linked to recent Russian incursions, Mark Rutte tells the news conference.
The Danes are at this moment assessing what happened, the NATO chief adds, after coming off a phone call with the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen just before speaking to reporters.
Denmark’s biggest airport had been forced to close on Monday evening after police said two or three large drones had been seen flying in the area.
Frederiksen has said she could not rule out potential Russian involvement.
NATO is prepared to “scare” Russia to prevent the ongoing incursions, Mark Rutte tells the ongoing news conference.
“Of course,” the NATO chief said when asked whether NATO was prepared to be tougher in its response.
“But we always have to do that in the way we assess the situation,” he added, saying this had been achieved in Estonia and Poland.
The question over how far NATO is willing to go has resurfaced in recent days.
Mark Rutte says that the NATO pilots who escorted Russian jets from Estonian airspace found “no immediate threat”.
He said: “In the latest airspace violation in Estonia, NATO forces promptly intercepted and escorted the aircraft without escalation as no immediate threat was assessed.”
Rutte also outlined what factors may lead to them deciding a threat was posed. This included:
NATO chief Mark Rutte is speaking after the group released its statement – see our 11.50 post for more.
Rutte has repeated much of what we heard in the statement, and added: “We do not want to see a continuation of this dangerous pattern we see from Russia.”
He went on:
“Allies also continue to exercise, to ensure we are ready for whatever threats we might face. Even now the largest aircraft carrier in the world, the US aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford, is in the neighbourhood and exercising with allies across the continent.”
Mark Rutte is giving a news conference, after NATO ambassadors met to discuss Russia’s violation of Estonian airspace.
Moscow flew three MiG-31 fighter jets into Estonian airspace for 12 minutes on Friday.
Russia claimed it was a “scheduled” flight, but it is the latest of three such incidents across Poland, Romania and now Estonia, which some say show a pattern of the Kremlin testing NATO.
Watch the news conference live at the top of the blog and we’ll bring you any updates here.
As the UN is meeting in New York for its General Assembly, NATO partners have also been gathering.
At the request of Estonia, they convened this morning, after three Russian jets violated the country’s airspace for 12 minutes on Friday.
The Eastern European nation activated Article 4 – to consult with allies after security concerns.
After the meeting, NATO released a statement in which it condemned the incursion as part of a “wider pattern of increasingly irresponsible Russian behaviour.”
Our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes explains: “NATO is putting Russia on notice. This is the clearest statement yet that NATO will respond to further violations.”
In its statement, NATO pointed out that this was the second time this week it had met under Article 4.
“Russia bears full responsibility for these actions, which are escalatory, risk miscalculation and endanger lives. They must stop,” NATO added in a statement.
It went on:
“Russia should be in no doubt: NATO and Allies will employ, in accordance with international law, all necessary military and non-military tools to defend ourselves and deter all threats from all directions. We will continue to respond in the manner, timing, and domain of our choosing. Our commitment to Article 5 is ironclad. Allies will not be deterred by these and other irresponsible acts by Russia from their enduring commitments to support Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours, in the exercise of its inherent right to self-defence against Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war of aggression.”
Watch British foreign secretary Yvette Cooper discuss the Russian behaviour here…
In our latest episode of the Trump 100 podcast, our team in the US discusses Donald Trump’s trip to the UN summit.
US correspondent Mark Stone is in New York, where the US leader will be speaking later.
Despite the US being increasingly isolated among its allies, Trump will be key to making any progress towards peace, he says.
Listen to the latest on the diplomatic situation – as well as Trump’s remarks on autism – from Stone and fellow US correspondent Martha Kelner below, and follow Trump 100 wherever you get your podcasts here.
You can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.
Email us at trump100@sky.uk with your comments and questions.
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