An F-16 fighter jet deployed with NATO air policing forces in the Baltics shot down what is believed to have been a stray Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia on Tuesday
Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said that, given the drone’s trajectory, “we decided that we needed to take it down”.
“Most probably, today we can say that it was a drone that was, let’s say, meant to hit Russian targets.”
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said experts from Ukraine and Estonia were working on measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
“We apologise to Estonia and all our Baltic friends for such unintended incidents. We have been and remain in close cooperation through our specialised institutions to get to the heart of the matter in each case and seek ways to prevent them, including through the direct engagement of our expert groups.”
Tykhyi also claimed that Russia was deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones into the Baltics using electronic warfare.
“Moscow does this on purpose, together with intensified propaganda.”
“Intensified propaganda”
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said in a statement on Tuesday that Ukraine was preparing to launch drone attacks against Russia from the territory of the Baltic states and threatened “retaliation”.
Moscow claimed that Riga had agreed to let Kyiv launch drones from Latvian territory “despite fears of becoming a target for retaliatory strikes by Moscow”.
“The primitive Russophobia of Latvia’s current rulers proved stronger than their capacity for critical thinking or their sense of self-preservation.”
Both Latvia and Ukraine denied the claims, calling them “yet another disinformation campaign”.
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said Riga had “never given Ukraine permission to use its territory or airspace for defensive strikes against Russia or any other country”.
“We have explained this many times on the international stage. Russia is the aggressor, and Ukraine has every right to defend itself.”
Last week, Latvia’s government collapsed after the prime minister resigned following the defence minister’s departure over the handling of multiple incidents involving stray drones suspected to have come from Ukraine.
His party subsequently withdrew its support for the coalition.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry added that “contrary to Russian propaganda claims, neither Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania nor Finland has ever allowed the use of its airspace for strikes against Russia. Furthermore, Ukraine has never requested such permission.”
“Ukraine exercises its right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Our legitimate military targets are located in Russia, and we use Russian airspace to reach them.”
The spokesperson also said that Moscow had “no right to blame Ukraine, the Baltic states or Finland for the consequences of its actions and, more broadly, its war of aggression”.
Russian threats against the Baltics
Moscow has repeatedly threatened Latvia and other Baltic states with what the Kremlin calls “retaliatory strikes” over Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia.
The SVR now claims that “despite Latvia’s fears of becoming a target of a retaliatory strike by Moscow, the authorities in Kyiv convinced Riga to agree to the operation”.
Moscow also claims that servicemen from the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Unmanned Systems Forces “have already been deployed to Latvia”.
“One can only pity the naivety of Latvia’s leaders,” Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said on Tuesday, issuing a thinly veiled threat to Riga.
“It is worth recalling that the coordinates of decision-making centres on Latvian territory are well known, and the country’s NATO membership will not protect those who aid terrorists from just retribution.”
Since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has repeatedly threatened what it calls “decision-making centres” in Ukraine using similar language.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that, according to Ukrainian intelligence, Russian forces were preparing new missile and drone strikes against what the Kremlin described as “decision-making centres”.
“Among these are nearly two dozen political centres and military command posts,” Zelenskyy said on 15 May.
