Ukraine has accused Russia of diverting one of its drones into Estonian airspace, leading to a NATO jet shooting it down. This incident, the latest in a series of cross-border drone events, has ignited political concern across the Baltic states.
In Estonia, the drone entered the country’s airspace at around noon (0900 GMT) on Tuesday, coming from Russia and into the southeastern part of the country, the Estonian military said in a statement.
It was shot down by a Romanian NATO fighter jet on a training flight at 12.14pm (0914 GMT), with a single missile.
“The incident occurred under the conditions of heavy electronic warfare, including GPS spoofing and jamming, by Russia,” the Estonian military added.
The drone had been under surveillance before it entered Estonia, it added, with the decision to shoot it down taken to “minimise the impact on the civilian population and infrastructure”.
NATO confirmed a Romanian jet had shot down a drone over Estonian airspace and said an investigation was ongoing. It said NATO “is ready and able to react to any potential air threats”.
Separately, Latvia issued an air threat alert on Tuesday following a possible drone incursion near its Russian border. Residents were advised to stay indoors, and NATO Baltic Air Police jets were scrambled to the area.
Heorhii Tykhyi, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, stated on X: “Russia continues to redirect Ukrainian drones into the Baltics with the use of its electronic warfare.”
He added: “We apologise to Estonia and all of our Baltic friends for such unintended incidents.”
Mr Tykhyi further clarified that Kyiv does not utilise Latvian or Estonian territory to launch drone attacks on Russia, a position affirmed by the Baltic countries. He asserted: “Our legitimate military targets are located in Russia; and we use the Russian airspace to get to them.”
The Russian embassies in Estonia and Latvia did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said a Romanian fighter jet shot down the drone that entered Estonian airspace was most likely a stray Ukrainian drone and confirmed it was not directed against Estonia.
Pevkur told local media: “We received advance information from our Latvian colleagues, and our radar also detected a drone moving into southern Estonia.
“We activated the necessary measures, and a Baltic Air Policing fighter jet shot the drone down.
Pevkur added he spoke with Ukraine’s Defense Minister immediately after the incident to clarify that Estonia has not granted permission to use its airspace for the purpose of carrying out attacks.
Nato did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Ukraine has stepped up long-range drone attacks on Russia, including around the Baltic. Since March, several stray Ukrainian drones have entered the airspace of NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which border Russia and its ally Belarus.
Kyiv consistently said the stray drones were launched to strike military targets in Russia, but were confused by Russian interference.
Some of the drones crashed and exploded, including two drones which hit and caused fire at a Latvian oil storage facility on 7 May.
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina fired her defence minister after the incident, which then led to the fall of her government on 14 May.
The Baltic states said in April that they have never allowed their territories and airspace to be used for drone attacks against targets in Russia.
The Estonian government recently hinted that it expects Ukraine to better control its drones.
“Of course, all this needs to be clarified and explained, what exactly it means, what they themselves meant by it,” said Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur.
“I will start dealing with this immediately. Certainly, the easiest way for the Ukrainians to keep their drones away from our territory is to better control their activities.”
