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Friday, August 14Friday, August 14
NATO fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace early Friday, the country’s defense ministry and armed forces confirmed. The interception occurred over the Balvi region in eastern Latvia, near its border with Russia, with the military stating the drone was a “foreign unmanned aerial vehicle” that had strayed into Latvian airspace due to Russian electromagnetic warfare.
Latvia’s armed forces issued an orange airspace alert shortly before 04:00 local time for the municipalities of Augsdaugava, Preili, Rezekne, Balvi and Aluksne, urging residents via mobile phone warnings to seek shelter. The alert was lifted about an hour later after the drone was destroyed. Lithuanian officials said the interception was carried out by fighter jets scrambled from Šiauliai Air Base in northern Lithuania, part of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission.
Finland, another NATO and EU member bordering Russia, simultaneously imposed temporary aviation and maritime restrictions in the eastern Gulf of Finland as a precautionary measure against potential drones, its defense forces announced on X.
The Latvian military described the drone as likely diverted off course by Russian electronic warfare, a tactic Ukraine has previously accused Russia of using to redirect Ukrainian drones into neighboring countries. In May, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo discussed a similar incident with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after two suspected Ukrainian drones briefly entered Finnish airspace during a strike on Russia’s Leningrad Oblast. Orpo called such incursions “unacceptable” while reaffirming Finland’s support for Ukraine’s right to defend itself.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has accused Russia of deliberately redirecting drones into neighboring countries, offering in May to dispatch Ukrainian anti-drone specialists to assist regional allies. The latest interception follows a June incident in which French fighter jets deployed to NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission shot down a drone in Latvia, the first such interception over the country by the alliance’s rapid-reaction force.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Leningrad region governor, Aleksandr Drozdenko, reported that air defenses shot down 54 Ukrainian drones overnight, with a fire breaking out at the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga following the attack. The port, a major oil-export hub, has been repeatedly targeted by Ukraine in recent months.
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