Riga, March 25, (dpa/GNA) – Drones that entered Estonian and Latvian airspace from Russia and crashed, were Ukrainian objects that strayed accidentally, local authorities said on Wednesday as they probed the incidents.
The governments in Tallinn and Riga said the aerial vehicles were misdirected Ukrainian drones, used by Kiev to attack Russian targets in the Gulf of Finland.
No one was injured in the crashes, they said. One drone was involved in each of the incidents that occurred in the eastern areas of both countries, close to their borders with Russia.
Government and military representatives in both countries underlined that Estonia and Latvia were not the intended targets. but that they thought the unmanned Ukrainian aircraft strayed off course or were misdirected by Russian electronic countermeasures.
There was no danger to the public or public safety, statements from Riga and Tallinn said.
The incidents came as Ukraine was attacking Russian targets in the Gulf of Finland with dozens of drones.
In Estonia, the drone struck a chimney at the Auvere power station in Ida-Virumaa County. No one was hurt in the incident that occurred at 3:43 am (0143 GMT), the Estonian Security Police said. The power infrastructure remained undamaged.
Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said after a special government meeting that drones had also violated Estonian airspace over the Baltic Sea during the night, particularly over the Gulf of Finland.
Drones veered off course
In Latvia, radar detected an unidentified flying object crossing the Latvian border at 2:19 am (0019 GMT), a military report said.
Some 20 minutes later, the drone exploded of its own accord near the village of Dobricina in the municipality of Kraslava, without the air force unit on alert taking action, the report said.
That came after an unmanned aerial vehicle entered Latvian airspace from Belarus at around 0:50 am. It curved slightly then flew on into Russian airspace.
The Kremlin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago, in fighting also involving drone warfare. Each side uses electronic systems to repel them but the weapons also pose a threat to the warring countries’ neighbours.
Repeated incursions in the past
In the past, drones have strayed through Belarus into the airspace of Poland and the Baltic states, which are among Ukraine’s closest partners and supporters. Belarus is a close Russian ally.
In the most recent incident, on Monday, a drone entered Lithuanian airspace near the border with Belarus then crashed down. Lithuania has since identified it as an Ukrainian aircraft.
Since the start of the war, Lithuania has seen many such airspace incursions, seeming to come from Belarus.
Similar incidents have occurred in Romania and Moldova.
Lithuanian Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas blamed Russia for the latest drone crashes.
“All of this is down to Russia’s war,” Kaunas said in a Facebook post. “The war provoked by the aggressor Russia has brought us to this point where drones have crashed on the territory of the three Baltic states within 48 hours.”
He said it was clear that air defence poses a challenge not only in Lithuania but across the whole of NATO.
GNA