United States intervention on Thursday for northern Kosovo. The US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on Kosovo and Serbia on Thursday to take immediate steps to reduce tensions, warning that the current situation “obstructs proceedings Euro-Atlantic integration of both countries”.

Speaking after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Oslo, Blinken made it clear that many allies expressed concern about tensions in northern Kosovo after Albanian mayors took office in Serb-majority areas following April elections in which Serbs refused to participate.

The US secretary warned against “unilateral actions” by either side after Serbia put its army on alert. “If one or the other country takes measures that would make (their European ambitions) more hypothetical, this does not serve the interests of their citizens,” he said.

The NATO said today that it is ready to send more troops to northern Kosovo, where dozens of people have been injured in violence this week, while Pristina and Belgrade have traded accusations of stoking tensions in the region.

The fact that the Albanian mayors took office last week despite receiving only 3.5% of the vote drew criticism from the United States, a staunch supporter of Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008. As a result, Washington blocked the Pristina from a NATO exercise.

The European Union said it would continue to talk to both sides.

“NATO will remain vigilant,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Oslo. “Our message to Belgrade and Pristina is that they must engage in good faith in the dialogue organized by the EU.”