NATO jets shoot down drone over Latvia

Fighter jets operating as part of NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace on Aug. 14, according to the Latvian military.

The "foreign unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)" entered Latvian airspace as a result of "Russian electromagnetic warfare," the military said in a statement.

The description suggested that the drone may have been a Ukrainian strike drone diverted off course by Russian air defenses.

The drone was intercepted by NATO fighter jets over the Balvi region in east Latvia.

"As long as Russia's aggression in Ukraine continues, a recurrence of cases where foreign drones enter or approach Latvian airspace is possible," the military added in the statement.

Ukrainian drones have frequently been diverted off course by Russian electronic warfare, creating tension between Ukraine and some of its most staunchest allies.  

On May 3, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after two suspected Ukrainian drones briefly entered Finnish airspace near the Russo-Finnish border during a Ukrainian drone strike against targets in Leningrad Oblast.

Orpo described such incidents as "unacceptable," while pointing out that Finland "supports Ukraine and understands its right to defend itself."

On May 10, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha directly accused Russia of deliberately redirecting drones into neighbouring countries.

"The investigations proved that this was the result of Russian electronic warfare deliberately diverting Ukrainian drones from their targets in Russia," Sybiha said in a statement, offering to dispatch Ukrainian anti-drone specialists to countries in the region to help defend them from wayward drones.