Drone shot down over Latvia

The drone intruded into the airspace during the night from Thursday to Friday. The Latvian Ministry of Defence announced on the X platform that the UAV entered Latvian territory as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare. An air threat alert was issued in several municipalities bordering Russia, which ended at 4:50 a.m. local time. According to a spokesperson for NATO Headquarters, the drone was shot down by one of the Italian Eurofighters over an uninhabited area.

Finland also responded to the incident by introducing a temporary restricted zone for air and sea traffic in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland. The restrictions were lifted after more than three hours.

The drone was most likely of Ukrainian origin. Early Friday morning, Aleksandr Drozdenko, the Governor of Russia’s Leningrad Oblast, which borders the Gulf of Finland, reported a drone attack on the port of Ust-Luga. A fire reportedly broke out at the site, but there were no fatalities. It is a realistic scenario that, as a result of the Russian port’s defence using electromagnetic warfare, one of the drones veered off course and entered Latvian airspace.