▲ NATO
A drone that violated Latvian airspace was shot down on the morning of June 8 (local time), according to reports from the BNS news agency and others.
The Latvian military stated that a French Rafale fighter jet, operating under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), intercepted the drone over Berzgale in the eastern part of the country at approximately 10:05 a.m. that day.
The military described it as a "foreign unmanned aerial vehicle that entered Latvia due to Russian electronic warfare," but did not specify the drone's flight path or model.
Berzgale is a town located approximately 30 km west of the border with Russia.
Upon detecting the aerial object violating its airspace, Latvian authorities issued evacuation alerts for the eastern regions of Ludza, Balvi, and Aluksne, which border Russia, twice starting around 9:20 a.m. that day. The alerts were lifted after about three hours.
In the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, which form NATO's eastern flank, airspace is frequently violated by drones launched by Russia and Ukraine.
This marks the first time a drone has been shot down over Latvian airspace.
On May 19, a NATO F-16 fighter jet shot down a drone near Lake Vortsjarv in southern Estonia using a missile.
It was confirmed that the drone had been launched by the Ukrainian military toward Russia but had deviated from its course and entered Estonia.
As the three Baltic nations do not possess any fighter jets of their own, other NATO member states deploy fighter jets for air policing to help monitor their airspace.
On May 7, Latvia's coalition government collapsed following controversy over its inadequate response after a Ukrainian drone violated its airspace and crashed into an oil storage facility.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.