NATO planes down suspected Ukrainian drone over Estonia

NATO confirmed on Tuesday that one of its F16 jets from the Baltic air policing mission based in Lithuania had shot down a drone over Estonian airspace. 

Estonia and Latvia both issued air alert threats reporting a drone in their airspace. It was not immediately clear whether they were referring to the same or different aircraft. 

What happened?

Estonia's military said that a drone entered its airspace at around noon local time (0900 GMT/UTC) on Tuesday, entering from Russia into the southeastern part of the country. 

It was shot down by a Romanian NATO fighter jet on a training flight with a single missile at 12:14 local time. 

"The incident occurred under the conditions of heavy electronic warfare, including GPS spoofing and jamming, by Russia," the military said. 

The military said it had been monitoring the drone before it entry into its airspace, and that the decision to shoot it down had been taken to "minimmize the impact on the civilian population and infrastructure." 

NATO later confirmed that it had shot down a drone over Estonian airspace, it said an investigation was ongoing and NATO was "ready and able to react to any potential air threats." 

Massive drone attack on Russia ups pressure on Moscow

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Why are drones often crashing in Baltic NATO member states of late? 

Tuesday's incident was the latest of a series of airspace violations in the region in recent weeks, amid intensifying attacks on Russian sites in the Baltic, not least the major oil facilities at Primorsk and Ust-Luga.

The flight path from Ukraine to these sites runs close to the borders to NATO members on the Baltic Sea like Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland — and drone defense systems can interfere with the aircrafts' navigation. 

The Baltic countries have broadly blamed Russia in their public responses, saying that Ukraine has a legitimate reason to attack sites in Russia as part of its defensive war. 

"These incidents ‌are the direct result of Russia's war and provocations. Estonia is strengthening cooperation with Ukraine to enhance our air defence and counter-drone capabilities," Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a post online.

Nevertheless, the incursions have started to take a political toll recently.

The issue came to a head in Latvia in particular this month, with the coalition government collapsing amid internal arguments over the country's handling of stray drones landing in its territory.

Prime Minister Evika Silina sacked her defense minister then soon had to resign herself after losing a coalition partner and therefore her majority.

Latvian PM Silina resigns amid Ukrainian drone controversy

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On May 15 in Finland, warnings of drone activity led to disruptions at Helsinki International Airport and in other areas near the coastal capital. 

Latvia halts trains in border region, Ukraine says Russia diverts drones intentionally

An air alert in Latvia led to disruptions to trains and schools in the border areas near Russia on Tuesday. 

It was not clear if the alert was the result of the same drone that was shot down in Estonian airspace. 

Both Latvia and Estonia again said that they had not allowed Ukraine to strike Russian targets via their territory and airspace, something Ukraine's Foreign Ministry also stressed on Tuesday. 

Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi apologized to Estonia "for such unintended incidents," and said that Russia "continues to redirect Ukrainian drones into the Baltics" in coordination with "intensified propaganda" as part of an intentional strategy. 

"We reiterate that — contrary to Russian propaganda claims — neither Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania [or] Finland have ever allowed to use their airspace for strikes against Russia. Furthermore, Ukraine has never requested such use," Tykhyi said. 

Edited by: Louis Oelofse