Drones Violate Latvian and Estonian Airspace, Prompting NATO Fighter Scramble

Errant drones flying near the eastern borders of Latvia and Estonia triggered overnight air-raid alerts and sent NATO fighter jets into the sky over Estonia.

Latvia issued a yellow alert for a possible threat in the eastern Ludza district at about 2 a.m. local time on Sept. 1. It later raised the warning to orange in the northeastern Alūksne district, telling residents to take shelter indoors behind at least two walls. Both Latvian alerts ended within an hour.

The drone or drones near Alūksne then crossed into Estonian airspace, prompting alerts across much of the country’s eastern half. The warnings continued until about 5:30 a.m. Estonian strategic communications chief Col. Uku Arold said Turkish NATO fighter jets deployed from Ämari air base to track the aircraft.

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There have been drones moving parallel to Estonia’s eastern border and also along Latvia’s, and they entered Estonia, so we also issued an alarm.

“There have been drones moving parallel to Estonia’s eastern border and also along Latvia’s, and they entered Estonia, so we also issued an alarm,” Arold said. The fighters followed the drones but did not shoot them down.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhna praised the allies’ rapid response and attributed the violations to Russia’s continuing war against Ukraine. The alerts came on the traditional first day of the school year and followed a series of incidents in the Baltic states, including a NATO shootdown over Latvia on Aug. 14 and another by a French NATO aircraft in early June. On May 7, two unmanned aircraft struck an empty oil-storage facility in Latvia’s eastern city of Rēzekne.

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These incidents are a direct consequence of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. That is why, together with our allies, we will continue supporting Ukraine and increasing pressure on Russia to force it to end its aggression.