NATO jets shoot down possible Ukrainian drone in Latvia

NATO air policing mission fighter jets shot down a foreign drone over Latvia on Friday morning after it entered the country under the influence of Russian electronic warfare, LRT reported. The drone may have been a Ukrainian aircraft that had deviated from its course, said Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre.

The drone was brought down in a wooded area in Balvi municipality. No residents were injured and no property was damaged.

Vitkauskas said the drone was believed to have entered Latvian airspace from Belarus. Fighter jets based in Šiauliai took off a few minutes before 4 a.m. and identified and neutralised the object within several minutes.

“The drone, possibly Ukrainian, was affected by Russian electronic warfare, deviated from its course and entered NATO airspace, specifically Latvian territory, presumably from Belarus,” Vitkauskas said at a news conference.

He said NATO countries had not detected any other objects entering their airspace that night. The drone was tracked using radar data, and authorities hope its wreckage will provide more information about the aircraft and its flight path.