An F-16 fighter jet deployed with NATO air policing forces in the Baltics shot down what is believed to have been a stray Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia on Tuesday.
Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said that, given the drone’s trajectory, “we decided that we needed to take it down.” He added, “Most probably, today we can say that it was a drone that was, let’s say, meant to hit Russian targets.”
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi apologized, stating experts from Ukraine and Estonia were working on measures to prevent similar incidents. He also claimed Russia was deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones into the Baltics using electronic warfare.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service accused Latvia of allowing Ukraine to launch drones from its territory, a claim both Latvia and Ukraine denied. Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said Riga had “never given Ukraine permission to use its territory or airspace for defensive strikes against Russia or any other country.”
Moscow has repeatedly threatened the Baltics with “retaliatory strikes” over Ukrainian drone attacks. The SVR warned that “the coordinates of decision-making centres on Latvian territory are well known, and the country’s NATO membership will not protect those who aid terrorists from just retribution.”