![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SEI_308000586-66c4.jpg\")
\n\t\tA Ukrrainian drone was sent towards NATO by Russia (Picture: Reuters)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tA Ukrrainian drone was sent towards NATO by Russia (Picture: Reuters)<\/p>\n
NATO jets scrambled today to shoot down a drone that crossed into\u00a0Latvian airspace close to its border with Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n The incursion in the Bali<\/a> municipality came amid a heavy Ukrainian strike on the major Russian oil post Ust-Luga, which ignited infernos at the Gulf of Finland<\/a> complex.<\/p>\n The kamikaze drone had been redirected into Latvian airspace by Russian \u2018electromagnetic warfare\u2019, Riga\u2019s Defence Ministry said.<\/p>\n \u2018NATO Baltic Air Policing mission fighters were scrambled in response to the threat in\u00a0Latvian airspace,\u2019 they added.<\/p>\n Airspace threats had been declared in five border municipalities in the Baltic state, with airspace curbs also imposed in Finland.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tSign up for all of the latest stories\t\t\t<\/p>\n Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates<\/a> newsletter or get Breaking News<\/a> alerts the moment it happens. <\/p>\n Fighters \u2018successfully shot down a foreign unmanned aerial vehicle that had entered\u00a0Latvia<\/a>\u00a0as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare.\u2019<\/p>\n The drone was likely Ukrainian and involved in a mass four-hour strike on the Leningrad region around St Petersburg \u2013 but was disrupted and redirected by Russian air defences.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Russian authorities confirmed that the Ust-Luga was ablaze, and had suffered damage as the country\u2019s air defences overnight downed 553 Ukrainian drones.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is Russia\u2019s biggest Baltic port\u2014a vital oil-export and sanctions-evasion hub with revenues sustaining Vladimir Putin<\/a>\u2019s war economy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The threat to NATO airspace followed concerning incidents in other alliance states amid warnings of Russian provocations in Western states.<\/p>\n An explosion tore through an Italian<\/a> ammunition plant that supplies the Ukrainian armed forces, and one person was killed and six injured at an oil terminal explosion in the Port of Rotterdam<\/a>, at a facility linked to Gunvor Energy, founded by close Putin associate Gennady Timchenko.<\/p>\n Putin was also hit by a major fire at the October Revolution Shipbuilding Plant in Blagoveshchensk, six time zones east of Moscow, where a fuel and lubricants warehouse was ablaze.<\/p>\n It was not immediately clear if the inferno was linked to Putin\u2019s war.\u00a0<\/p>\n Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more stories like this, check our news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow
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