An Italian \u200cfighter \u200bjet, part of a NATO mission, shot down a drone of unknown origin that entered the airspace of NATO and EU member Latvia on Friday during Ukrainian attacks on Russian ports, the defence pact and Latvian authorities said. Latvian soldiers were \u200csearching for debris from the drone around midday in a wooded area near the village of Rugaji \u2014 around 35 km (22 miles) from the Baltic nation’s border with Russia \u2014 which was identified as a potential crash site.<\/p>\n
“We can’t give information about the origin of the drone as the area is not yet searched,” Latvian military spokesperson Iveta Berzina \u200ctold public broadcaster LSM. Ukrainian military drones have strayed into the Baltic nations’ airspace several times this year.<\/p>\n
Before Friday’s incident, Ukraine had been attacking Russian ports overnight \u200cnear St Petersburg, which is located close to Finland and the Baltic countries. Local regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said on Telegram that Russian forces had shot down 15 Ukrainian drones during the strikes. Two Italian Eurofighter jets took off from Lithuania and two Turkish F-16s were scrambled from a base in Estonia in response to the detection of the drone over Latvian airspace, NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said.<\/p>\n
One \u2060of the \u200bEurofighters identified and shot down the \u2060drone. “All aircraft were operating under NATO command. An investigation is ongoing and NATO is in close contact with the Latvian authorities,” Hart said.<\/p>\n
“NATO is ready and able to react to any potential threats, 24\/7, \u2060to safeguard our territory and protect our people.” BALTIC NATIONS SEEING DRONE SPILLOVER FROM UKRAINE WAR Located on the edge of the Ukraine war, in which both sides have extensively deployed \u200bdrones in cross-border attacks, the Baltic nations have seen a recent increase in incursions into their airspace. A Romanian F-16 shot down a Ukrainian drone \u2060in May in Estonia, and a French Rafale downed another in Latvia in June. “I have to say that all these incidents are related to Russian electromagnetic warfare activities, which contributes to these unmanned aerial vehicles \u2060entering \u200bLatvian airspace,” Berzina said.<\/p>\n
Finland, another EU and NATO member, temporarily restricted areas for aviation and maritime traffic in the eastern Gulf of Finland on Friday morning, its defence forces said on X, as a precautionary measure. A Latvian military commander involved in the search for the downed drone told Reuters the location of the suspected \u2060crash site was complicating efforts to find the wreckage. “This area is highly forested with relatively sparse farmsteads, making the terrain challenging. Of course, forests, bogs, and varying \u2060types of vegetation mean that the search \u2060is far from easy,” he said. Russia’s NATO neighbours are tightening security around dams, power plants and natural gas infrastructure in a sign of mounting concern that Moscow will stage a “false flag” attack on them using Ukrainian drones. <\/p>\n
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