Yes which is why it’s so important to react firmly to someone who’s deliberately playing brinksmanship with a nuclear-armed defensive alliance, so as to correctly pass the can-I-push-the-boundaries test Putin is giving here. This is like lesson #1 about dealing with bullies.

I think they should have shot down the fighters and then sent footage of the falling wreckage to Putin overlaid with the “Curb Your Enthusiam” music and fade out with “Stay in your own airspace pls and thank you.”