Nato jet shoots down drone over central Estonia after suspected jamming
Estonia says a Nato fighter jet shot down a drone over its territory on Tuesday, in an incident officials believe may have involved a Ukrainian projectile diverted by Russian electronic jamming. Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said a Romanian F-16 fired a missile at the drone, which came down in a marshy area between Lake Võrtsjärv and the town of Põltsamaa in central Estonia. No damage was reported, and local media later published photos said to show drone fragments on the ground.
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Pevkur said the drone was shot down shortly after 12:00 local time, or 09:00 GMT, after Estonia received early information from Latvia about a drone that had strayed off course. The Estonian defence ministry said the aircraft was tracked until Romanian fighter jets taking part in the Baltic air policing mission intercepted it. Estonia said the drone had been identified as a potential threat before it entered its airspace, and Pevkur said he had discussed the incident immediately with his Ukrainian counterpart.
Ukraine apologised to Estonia and other Baltic states for what it called unintended incidents, while also accusing Russia of deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones launched at legitimate military targets in Russia. Russia has not commented on the latest incident. The episode comes after a series of recent drone incursions over Nato members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, including a similar incursion reported by Estonia and Latvia in March.
The case matters because it involves a Nato air policing mission responding to a drone over allied territory at a time of heightened concern about spillover from the war in Ukraine. Estonia said it has not granted permission for anyone other than its allies to use its airspace, and rejected Moscow's claim that the Baltic states allow Ukraine to use their air corridors to strike targets inside Russia. Moscow has made that accusation against Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all of which deny it.
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The incident also fits a wider pattern of drone and electronic warfare affecting the Baltic region. Earlier this month, two Ukrainian drones hit an empty oil storage site in Latvia, which Ukraine said was the result of Russian electronic jamming. Last week, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina resigned after a political crisis linked to Russia-bound Ukrainian drones straying into Latvian territory, underlining the domestic political impact of the spillover.
Ukraine has recently intensified drone and missile attacks on targets in Russia, including oil and gas facilities near the Baltic states, while Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in 2022, continues to shape security across the region. Estonia's defence minister said the drone was treated as a threat before it crossed into Estonian airspace, but it remains unclear exactly where it was launched from and whether Russian jamming was the direct cause. Further details may emerge from the ongoing assessment of the drone debris and the coordination between Estonia, Latvia and Nato allies.
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