VILNIUS, May 19 (Reuters) – A NATO military jet shot down a suspected Ukrainian drone over Estonia on Tuesday, the Baltic country said, the latest in a series of airspace violations in the region amid frequent Ukrainian attacks on Russia.
Neighbouring Latvia also issued a drone alert, telling residents near the Russian border to stay indoors, with NATO Baltic Air Police jets summoned to the area, the Latvian army said.
Ukraine has stepped up long-range drone attacks on Russia, including around the Baltic. Since March, several Ukrainian military drones have strayed into the airspace of NATO members Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which all border Russia. The Latvian government last week resigned over its handling of the incursions.
The suspected Ukrainian drone was shot down on Tuesday by a Romanian Air Force F-16 fighter, Estonia’s Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said. NATO did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week that Ukraine would send experts to Latvia to help protect the country’s skies.
Finnish authorities on May 15 warned of suspected drone activity in the country’s capital region, telling people to stay indoors and suspending traffic at Helsinki’s airport for three hours.
The Finnish defence forces had scrambled fighter jets and other emergency services, but no drones were eventually found.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius, Janis Laizans in Riga and Essi Lehto in Helsinki, additional reporting by Lili Bayer in Brussels and Niklas Pollard in Stockholm, writing by Anna RingstromEditing by Terje Solsvik and Peter Graff)
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