NEW YORK CITY — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that NATO allies should shoot down Russian aircraft encroaching on their airspace, and walked back earlier support for Russia to keep the Ukrainian territory it has won.

The Kremlin has in recent days characterized NATO as at war with Russia as tensions sharply escalated between the two nuclear-armed sides. NATO states have accused Russia of multiple serious airspace violations, which Moscow calls unfounded, intended to provoke and test the strength of the alliance over its support for Ukraine.

Russia has been encroaching on its NATO neighbors’ airspace for decades, then either denying it happened or brushing it off as unintentional. But since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, such incursions have carried a bigger threat.

From the moment the Russian pilots entered Estonian airspace, they were pursued by Nato’s most advanced fighter jets.

The planes' detection in international airspace off Alaska comes amid tensions over Russian incursions in NATO airspace.

The reason is a series of increasingly brazen incursions into NATO airspace. On September 8, 21 Russian drones entered Polish territory, where some of them were shot down by an unprecedented Polish-German-Italian-Dutch military operation.

Germany said Thursday it would step up its defences -- from drone warfare to outer space -- at a time of growing tensions between Russia and NATO while the Ukraine war grinds on.Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Thursday that Germany would spend 35 billion euros ($41 billion) on outer space defence by 2030,

Officials say defending against drones is complex and requires affordable technology which can be quickly mass produced

Russian drones are now targeting Nato members. As Russia is running out of troops, Russia's hybrid war is not just cost-effective; it's also a necessity.