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 said. 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.
“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.”