Estonian authorities expect Ukraine to exercise greater control over its drones, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said, quoted by ERR.
The article states that after several drone incidents, Ukraine wants to send its experts to the Baltic states to strengthen air security and has already contacted the Estonian embassy on this issue.
„Of course, all this requires clarification and clarification. What exactly does this mean? We are currently working on this very quickly. "For the Ukrainian side, the easiest way to keep its drones away from our territory is to exercise more effective control over their activities," Pevkur said.
Ukraine has the right to defend itself, but Estonia, as Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna noted, is very concerned about the risk of serious incidents, a matter that has already been discussed with the Ukrainian side.
Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds does not expect Ukraine to share its attack plans with the Baltic states. "If we are talking about specific incidents and flight trajectories, Ukraine must decide whether to inform us about them or not. In general, this is operational information," the minister noted.
According to Pevkur, the drone's trajectory can be controlled thanks to a built-in automatic emergency switch. "If the drone is seen to be deviating from its course, it can be destroyed remotely," the Estonian minister explained.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga announced the possibility of sending expert teams to the Baltic states on May 8. His statement on the social media platform X followed the crash of two drones in Latvia, possibly of Ukrainian origin. Sibiga said he had spoken to his Latvian counterpart, Baiba Braže.
"We are in close contact with Latvia regarding the recent drone incidents and our competent authorities are exchanging information to establish what happened," he noted. The minister added that Ukraine had apologized to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland for the drone incidents, but stressed that Kiev had “never directed drones at Latvia.”
On the night of May 7, a drone crash at an oil depot in the Latvian city of Rezekne damaged four empty oil tanks, Delfi reported. Guntars Skudra, chairman of the Rezekne regional council, said that one of the drones crashed into the premises of the East-West Transit branch in Rezekne, hitting an empty oil tank.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukraine had attempted to attack civilian infrastructure near St. Petersburg. A group of six drones was intercepted in Latvian airspace. Five went missing near Rezikene, and the sixth was shot down by air defense systems.
An examination of the wreckage identified the drone as Ukrainian, the ministry said. In late April, Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Alexei Shevtsov said that Poland and the Baltic states were allowing Ukrainian drones to fly through their airspace. Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry had issued a special warning to the Baltic states not to allow Ukrainian armed forces drones to fly over their airspace.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania denied the accusations, saying they had not allowed Kiev to do so.