The Latvian Ministry of Defense confirmed that NATO fighter jets shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) in the country’s eastern airspace, following an initial announcement by its armed forces.
“NATO fighter jets successfully shot down a foreign unmanned aerial vehicle that entered Latvian airspace,” the Ministry wrote on the X platform.
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The Alliance clarified that an Italian fighter jet, operating under NATO command, shot down the drone, the origin of which it did not specify.
“An investigation is underway, and NATO is in close contact with the Latvian authorities,” said NATO spokesperson Alison Hart.
Back in June, French NATO Rafale jets stationed in the Baltic states had already shot down a drone in Latvia.
The Baltic states, which border Russia, are recording an increasing number of incursions and crashes of such unmanned aerial vehicles within their territory.
Authorities in the Leningrad Region, in northwestern Russia, stated this morning that they shot down more than 50 Ukrainian drones overnight and that a fire broke out at the Russian port of Ust-Luga, across from the Gulf of Finland.
Latvia is located halfway between Ukraine and the Russian region of Leningrad.
The Finnish Armed Forces announced today that they had imposed a temporary restriction on air and maritime traffic overnight in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, without specifying the reason, in a message to X.
Last week, at Leipzig Airport in Germany, a key NATO hub for the transport of military and other supplies to Ukraine, an unmanned aerial vehicle was discovered carrying “an explosive device of an unknown type,” causing a temporary suspension of traffic.
Romania and Poland have also repeatedly experienced incursions into their airspace.
At a meeting the day before yesterday, Wednesday, NATO member countries reaffirmed “that Russia bears full responsibility for these airspace violations, which are dangerous and unacceptable.”
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Source: KYPE
