Estonia says NATO shot down suspected Ukrainian drone
Defence minister Hanno Pevkur said the aircraft’s path had been picked up by Latvia’s defence forces and by Estonia’s own radar network.
Military tensions over the Baltic spilled into Estonian airspace when a NATO warplane downed a suspected Ukrainian drone, Estonian authorities said, marking the latest reported breach in a region already on edge over repeated Ukrainian strikes inside Russia.
Estonian public broadcaster ERR reported that a Romanian F-16 fighter jet brought down the drone near Lake Võrtsjärv in southern Estonia.
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Defence minister Hanno Pevkur said the aircraft’s path had been picked up by Latvia’s defence forces and by Estonia’s own radar network.
“Our air radars and air force systems detected one potential threat even before entering Estonia,” Mr Pevkur told a press conference in Tallinn.
Mr Pevkur said he had also received a call from Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who apologised over the incident.
Estonia’s defence forces issued an air threat alert covering six counties in the south and east of the country. The warning was lifted at 12.55pm local time (10.55am Irish time).
Police in Estonia have sealed off an area in the Põltsamaa rural municipality where wreckage from the drone came down.
Marko Mihkelson, chair of the Estonian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote on Facebook: “Most likely, it was a Ukrainian drone that went off course due to Russian electronic interference activities”.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would send experts to Latvia to help strengthen protection of the country’s skies.
On 15 May, Finnish authorities warned of suspected drone activity in the capital region, urging residents to remain indoors and halting traffic at Helsinki airport for three hours.
Finnish defence forces scrambled fighter jets along with other emergency responders, but no drones were ultimately located.
Additional reporting Reuters
