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Nato fighter intercepts drone over Estonia
Estonia confirmed on Tuesday that a Romanian F-16 operating under Nato's Baltic air policing mission shot down a drone over its territory. Defence officials suspect the projectile was a Ukrainian drone diverted off course by Russian electronic jamming.
Incident details
The drone was intercepted shortly after 12:00 local time (09:00 GMT) between Lake Võrtsjärv and the town of Põltsamaa in central Estonia. Debris landed in a marshy area, with no reported damage or injuries.
Estonia's Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur stated that authorities tracked the drone before it entered Estonian airspace, following early warnings from Latvia. Local media later published images of drone fragments recovered from the crash site, which landed approximately 30 metres from the nearest residential building.
"There was a loud bang and I saw the drone fall from the sky,"
a local resident told Estonia's ERR public broadcaster.
Ukraine and Russia trade accusations
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Heorhii Tykhyi, accused Russia of deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones into Baltic airspace, calling it part of a broader campaign of "intensified propaganda." He apologised to Estonia and other Baltic nations for the "unintended incidents," emphasising that Ukraine targets only "legitimate military objectives" within Russia.
Russia's foreign intelligence agency (SVR) claimed earlier on Tuesday that Ukraine was preparing to launch drone strikes against Russian targets from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The SVR alleged that Ukrainian military personnel had already been deployed at Latvian bases.
Latvia dismissed the allegations as "disinformation," with its foreign ministry stating that Riga "has not given consent for its territory or airspace to be used for attacks against the Russian Federation." Ukraine's Tykhyi similarly rejected the claims as "falsehoods."
Broader tensions in the Baltic region
The incident is the latest in a series of drone incursions into Nato airspace by suspected Ukrainian projectiles. Earlier this month, two Ukrainian drones struck an empty oil storage site in Latvia, an event Ukraine attributed to Russian electronic jamming. Similar incidents were reported by Estonia and Latvia in March.
Moscow has repeatedly accused the Baltic states-Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania-of allowing Ukraine to use their airspace to launch attacks on Russia. All three nations have denied the allegations, with Estonia's Pevkur clarifying that Tallinn "has not granted permission to use its airspace to anyone other than its allies."
Regional security concerns
The Baltic states, located on Nato's eastern flank, have expressed growing unease over potential Russian provocations aimed at testing the alliance's resolve. Last year, Nato responded to a surge in drone incursions over Poland by deploying additional troops and fighter jets to its eastern member states.
Ukraine has recently escalated its drone and missile strikes against Russian targets, including oil and gas facilities near the Baltic region. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
