TALLINN, Estonia — A Romanian F-16 jet belonging to NATO air policing forces in the Baltics on Tuesday shot down what is believed to have been a Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia, authorities said.
Given the trajectory of the drone, “we decided that we need to take it down,” Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said.
“Most probably, today we can say that it was (a) drone which was, let’s say, meant to hit some Russian targets,” he told The Associated Press.
It was the latest in a string of incidents in recent months in which Ukrainian drones aimed at Russia have crossed or come down in NATO territory. Those incidents have come as Kyiv has steadily ramped up its drone raids, focusing on Russian energy facilities and arms factories.
On Sunday, authorities in Russia said that one of the largest Ukrainian drone strikes on the country killed at least four people, including three near Moscow, and wounded a dozen others.
Ukraine’s ability to break through Russian air defenses reflect the growth in the number of its drones, along with its enhanced tactics.
Estonia's defense minister said that Ukraine has been advised to be careful.
“Our messages have not changed,” Pevkur said. “We’ve said to the Ukrainians all the time that if you’re attacking Russian positions or Russian targets, then these trajectories have to be as far from the NATO territory as possible.”
The strikes have caused some tensions within the Baltic states, and between them and Russia.
Last week, Latvia's government collapsed, with the prime minister resigning after the defense minister was forced to quit over the handling of multiple incidents involving stray drones suspected to be from Ukraine, and his party withdrew its support.
On Tuesday, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said that Ukraine was preparing to start launching drone attacks against Russia from the territory of the Baltic countries and warned of retaliation.
It said in a statement that the Ukrainian military personnel had already deployed to Latvia and warned that the country’s membership in NATO wouldn’t protect it from “just retribution.”
Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs posted on X that “Russia is lying about Latvia allowing any country to use Latvian airspace and territory to launch attacks against Russia or any other country.”
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a statement following Tuesday's incident that Ukraine has every right to strike Russian military targets.
“Estonia has not permitted its airspace to be used for attacks against Russia," he said. "Incidents such as this are linked to Russian jamming activities.”
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