NATO fighter jets have shot down a drone in Latvian airspace, the Latvian Ministry of Defense confirmed today, quoted by Agence France-Presse, BTA reported.
The Latvian Armed Forces had earlier announced the shooting down of a drone in Latvian airspace.
The Latvian army initially did not say what the origin of the drone was, but said that the foreign drone had entered Latvian airspace as a result of actions by Russian electronic warfare systems, DPA notes. This could be interpreted as meaning that it could be a Ukrainian drone diverted by Russia. Kiev attacked targets in northwestern Russia overnight, Latvian media reported.
"Fighter jets successfully shot down a foreign drone that had entered Latvia," the Latvian Defense Ministry said on the Ex social network.
NATO said the drone was shot down by an Italian fighter jet under NATO command. "An investigation is underway and NATO is in close contact with Latvian authorities," spokeswoman Alison Hart said.
In June, French NATO fighter jets stationed in the Baltic states shot down a drone in Latvia.
Such drones are increasingly entering and crashing in the Baltic states that border Russia.
The authorities of Russia's Leningrad region, in northwestern Russia, said today that more than 50 Ukrainian drones had been shot down overnight.
The Finnish military said today that it had imposed temporary restrictions on Finnish airspace and Finnish waters in the eastern Gulf of Finland overnight, without specifying why.