Copyright AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda
For the first time, a NATO fighter jet shot down what is thought to be a stray Ukrainian drone over the Baltic nation; Ukraine apologized for the “unintended incident,” and Russia warned of possible retaliation.
An F-16 fighter jet deployed with NATO air policing forces in the Baltics shot down what is believed to have been a stray Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia on Tuesday, News.Az reports, citing Euronews.
Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said that, given the drone’s trajectory, “we decided that we needed to take it down”.
“Most probably, today we can say that it was a drone that was, let’s say, meant to hit Russian targets.”
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said experts from Ukraine and Estonia were working on measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
“We apologise to Estonia and all our Baltic friends for such unintended incidents. We have been and remain in close cooperation through our specialised institutions to get to the heart of the matter in each case and seek ways to prevent them, including through the direct engagement of our expert groups.”
Tykhyi also claimed that Russia was deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones into the Baltics using electronic warfare.
“Moscow does this on purpose, together with intensified propaganda.”
“Intensified propaganda”
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said in a statement on Tuesday that Ukraine was preparing to launch drone attacks against Russia from the territory of the Baltic states and threatened “retaliation”.
Moscow claimed that Riga had agreed to let Kyiv launch drones from Latvian territory “despite fears of becoming a target for retaliatory strikes by Moscow”.
“The primitive Russophobia of Latvia’s current rulers proved stronger than their capacity for critical thinking or their sense of self-preservation.”
Both Latvia and Ukraine denied the claims, calling them “yet another disinformation campaign”.
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said Riga had “never given Ukraine permission to use its territory or airspace for defensive strikes against Russia or any other country”.
“We have explained this many times on the international stage. Russia is the aggressor, and Ukraine has every right to defend itself.”
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