Concerns over Ukraine war spread as Latvia says drone shot down as “result of Russian electronic warfare”
said the Latvian military two NATO warplanes shot down a drone that entered the country’s airspace on Monday – the latest in a series of drone-related incidents in eastern European NATO countries directly linked to Russia’s continued, full invasion of Ukraine.
The Latvian military confirmed that the drone entered Latvian airspace, “due to Russian electronic warfare,” but did not specify the origin of the unmanned aerial vehicle. Ukrainian drones have crashed in all three Baltic states, all of which share borders with Russia, with officials suspecting inadvertent access to Russian electronic warfare. Russia uses jamming technology to divert Ukrainian drones that are considered a threat to its territory.
In another incident, a drone crashed and exploded in an airfield in eastern Moldova, which shares a border with Ukraine but is not a NATO member. The Ministry of Defense of Moldova said in a statement that the plane was seen entering the country’s airspace early Monday morning as “a Russian drone attacking Ukraine.”
“It doesn’t matter where the drone came from, the responsibility for any drone that lands on the territory of the Republic of Moldova lies with Russia,” Moldova’s Foreign Ministry said in a post on Telegram, according to AFP news agency.
These incidents occurred less than two weeks after the explosion of two Russian planes over Romaniaone of them hit a building near the Ukrainian border, injuring two people.
Repeated incursions into the airspace of neighboring countries across eastern Europe in recent months have fueled concerns about the expansion of Russia’s war in Ukraine into NATO territory.
On May 19, a Romanian military jet shot down a Ukrainian airliner over Estonia and, a day later, another plane flying toward the Lithuanian capital Vilnius prompted authorities to issue an airstrike warning, sending residents scrambling for shelter.
In the week following the attack, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told Reuters news agency that Russia is “now using any kind of opportunity to divide the Western part of the world and … to put more pressure on Ukraine not to launch this attack.”
Moscow has accused Ukraine of using NATO countries as a shield to launch deep strikes on Russian territory.
The Foreign Ministers of the Nordic-Baltic countries, including those countries that saw their airspace violated by drones, at the end of May that Russia is using these incidents “to divert its illegal war and to intimidate NATO Allies.”
“Incidents involving drones entering NATO airspace are a direct result of Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine,” the Nordic-Baltic countries said in their joint statement, stressing that “they have never allowed their territory or airspace to be used for this attack against targets in Russia.”
