Ukraine accused Russia on Tuesday of directing one of its jets at an airport in Estonia, where a NATO jet was shooting down, the latest incident of unrestricted airspace that has sparked political turmoil in the Baltic states.
Neighboring Latvia also issued an air threat warning about a drone entering its territory on Tuesday, telling residents near the Russian border to stay indoors, as NATO Baltic Air Police planes were called to the area.
“Russia continues to redirect Ukrainian drones in the Baltic using its electronic warfare,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi told X. “We apologize to Estonia and our Baltic friends for the unintentional incidents.”
He also said that Kyiv was not using the territory of Latvia or Estonia to attack Russia with bombs, which the Baltic countries agreed with.
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“Our official military objectives are located in Russia; and we use Russian aircraft to go to them,” he said.
Russian embassies in Estonia and Latvia did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
Ukraine has stepped up long-range drone attacks in Russia, including in the Baltic. Since March, several Ukrainian military drones have strayed into the airspace of NATO members Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, all of which border Russia.
Latvia’s government last week resigned because of its handling of criminals.
The drone shot down with a missile
In Estonia, the plane entered the country’s airport at noon (0900 GMT) on Tuesday, coming from Russia and heading to the southeastern part of the country, the Estonian military said in a statement.
It was shot down by a Romanian NATO warplane on a training flight at 12:14 pm (0914 GMT), with one missile.
“The incident took place under conditions of severe electronic warfare, including GPS spoofing and jamming, by Russia,” the Estonian military said.
The drone had been under surveillance before it entered Estonia, it added, adding that the decision to shoot it down was made to “minimize the impact on society and infrastructure.”
NATO has confirmed that a Romanian jet shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle in Estonian airspace and said the investigation is ongoing. It said NATO was “ready and able to respond to any potential air threats”.
Canceled trains, exams
In Latvia, the air warning led to scenes of panic in the border region with Russia, trains were suspended, national exams for ninth graders were suspended and grocery stores were closed, according to local media reports.
Estonia identified the drone shot down there as Ukrainian, but both Baltic states blamed the incidents on Moscow and said Ukraine had the right to strike Russian weapons to weaken Moscow’s ability to fight back.
“These incidents are a direct result of Russia’s war and militancy. Estonia is strengthening cooperation with Ukraine to improve our air defense capabilities and anti-drone capabilities,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a post on X.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week that Ukraine will send experts to Latvia to help protect the country’s skies.
Finnish authorities on May 15 warned of a suspected drone attack in the country’s capital, telling people to stay indoors and stopping traffic at Helsinki airport for three hours.
The Finnish military attacked military aircraft and other emergency services, but no drones were found.
