A French military aircraft shot down a Russian drone that violated Latvia's airspace, prompting an air raid alert in eastern regions.
Concerns rise over Ukraine war spillover as military drones, linked to Ukrainian attacks on Russian ports, violate airspace in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Incidents have prompted security warnings, a government collapse in Latvia, and calls for strengthened NATO air defenses.
Russia is attempting to weaponize stray drone incidents in the Baltic states to create a political rift with Ukraine, but its disinformation campaign has been rejected by Baltic officials and NATO.
Two RAF Typhoon fighter jets were scrambled from a Romanian air base at 2am on Saturday to intercept Russian drones approaching NATO airspace near Ukraine. The jets established radar contact on the targets and had authorisation to engage if necessary, but did not open fire and remained within Romanian airspace. Ground-based radar tracked targets near Reni in Ukraine where explosions were reported, before contact with the drones was lost. An object later fell in Galați, Romania. The mission was one of surveillance and deterrence as part of a rotating NATO air defence mission protecting eastern European countries.
Two RAF Typhoon fighter jets were scrambled from a Romanian air base at 2am on Saturday to engage Russian drones approaching NATO airspace. The aircraft established radar contact with the targets and had authorisation to engage if necessary, but did not open fire and remained within Romanian airspace throughout the mission. Romanian officials reported that contact with the drones was lost near Reni, Ukraine, and an object later fell near Galați in Romania. The incident comes amid Western refusal to police Ukrainian skies to avoid direct confrontation with Russia.
