Latvia’s president said on Sunday that a Russian military drone had crashed on his territory, and noted there had been a rise in airspace violations along NATO’s eastern borders.
The Baltic state, once ruled by the Soviet Union but now a member of the European Union and NATO, has had tense relations with Moscow since independence, and ties have worsened since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“A Russian military drone… crashed in the eastern part of Latvia yesterday. An investigation is ongoing,” Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said on X.
“We are in close contact with our allies. The number of such incidents is increasing in NATO’s eastern flank and we must address them collectively,” he said.
Latvia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement that the drone had entered the country’s airspace from Belarus and crashed in the Rezekne municipality.
“This situation confirms that we need to continue the work we have begun to strengthen Latvia’s eastern border, including the development of air defense capabilities and electronic warfare capabilities to limit the activities of UAVs of various applications,” Defense Minister Andris Sprds said.
Romania, another NATO member, also said on Sunday that a Russian attack drone targeting civilian infrastructure in neighbouring Ukraine had entered its airspace overnight.
Bucharest strongly condemned the “new violations” caused by Moscow’s “illegal attacks”.
Russia has carried out repeated night attacks on Ukrainian cities since launching the invasion, often targeting ports in the southern Odessa region after pulling out of a grain export deal.
Poland has also recorded at least two cases of Russian missiles or drones violating its airspace to attack Ukraine, most recently in December.
Warsaw announced late last month that a flying object had intruded into its airspace, but later backtracked on its claim.
In an interview with the Financial Times last week, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Warsaw should have the right to shoot down Russian missiles targeting Ukraine before they enter Polish airspace, despite NATO protests.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
