The NATO Baltic mission briefly deployed fighter jets early this morning after a new drone incident in which at least one of these devices penetrated Estonian airspace, according to the Baltic country’s Air Force. Neighboring Latvia also raised its air surveillance level this Tuesday after detecting the presence of several unmanned aircraft very close to its border with Russia, coinciding with a moment of intense drone attack exchanges between Moscow and Kiev.
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Around three in the morning, according to Estonian public television, sirens, alert messages, and phone calls from authorities woke residents of eight counties in the east of the country. In these areas, authorities urged residents of regions closest to Russian territory to immediately seek shelter if they saw a drone, after at least one of these devices was detected in the skies of the Baltic country. At the same time, a second drone was heading towards the border city of Narva, confirmed the commander of the Estonian Air Force, Brigadier General Riivo Valge.
The general framed the incident that occurred this early morning as a Ukrainian night attack against targets in western Russia. At the start of that offensive, around two in the morning, NATO had detected a dozen drones from Kiev near the Russian border with Estonia.
Subsequently, a first drone coming from Russia stopped before entering Estonian airspace and turned back. Approximately half an hour later, a second drone crossed the border from the southeast and hovered near the border, triggering the public alert and activation of ground-based air defense systems.
The Atlantic Alliance then ordered the takeoff of Turkish fighter jets stationed at the Amari airbase, which hosts NATO’s main Reinforced Air Force detachment in the region, in response to the unpredictable behavior of the unmanned aircraft, which the Estonian general described as “unpredictable.”
Almost simultaneously, neighboring Latvia, also bordering Russia, raised the alert level in the northeast of the country due to the sighting of a drone that also triggered the takeoff of NATO aircraft. In both countries, the danger warning was lifted hours later. Finland also restricted aviation and navigation in the eastern Gulf of Finland in response to the possible presence of drones.
In Estonia’s case, according to General Valge, the drones did not ultimately crash on the country’s territory, and the fighters did not have to shoot them down. This new incident follows one in May when a NATO Baltic air police fighter shot down a Ukrainian drone over Estonia, diverted by Moscow troops using electronic warfare tools, according to Tallinn at the time. At the end of March, another Ukrainian aircraft hit a power plant chimney, according to the Estonian Prosecutor’s Office.
A predictable reaction
This Tuesday, NATO reacted “quickly and exactly as expected,” said Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna hours later, highlighting in a message on the social network X how the Alliance is “vigilant and ready” to protect its territory, as separately stated by the armed forces of both countries on September 1.
This type of incident, the Estonian Foreign Minister later emphasized, is a “direct consequence of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” which, in his view, evidences the “need to increase pressure on Russia to end that aggression,” the minister asserted. The Estonian Armed Forces later specified in a statement that the drones that “briefly” penetrated the country’s airspace are the type used by Ukraine in attacks against targets in Russia.
Ukraine has applauded Estonia’s reaction, insisting that “Russia’s aggression increasingly threatens Europe’s security” beyond Ukrainian borders, declared Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andri Sibiga.
Moscow’s response has been very different. “If there is an escalation of the political and military situation in the Baltics, Russia will respond” and will do so in a “devastating” manner, Kremlin Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned journalists this Tuesday.
The regional governor of the Russian Leningrad oblast (province), Alexander Drozdenko, had earlier stated that 38 drones had been destroyed in that region on the border with Estonia early Tuesday morning.
