- The Latvian army called on residents near the Russian border not to go outside.
- At least one unmanned drone entered Latvian airspace from Russia.
Latvian armed forces on Monday sent a warning to people living in areas bordering Russia not to go out. A spokesman for the army confirmed to Reuters that at least one drone penetrated the airspace from Russia, reports TASR.
In response to the threat to Latvian airspace, North Atlantic Alliance fighter jets were activated and shot down the unmanned aircraft. “During the duration of Russian aggression in Ukraine, it is possible that there will be repeated cases when a foreign unmanned aerial vehicle flies into or approaches Latvian airspace,” the army said in a statement.
Since March, several stray Ukrainian drones have already flown into the airspace of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which border Russia and Belarus. Kiev claims that their target was military facilities in Russia, but their path was affected by Russian jammers.
Some of these drones have crashed and exploded, including two that crashed into an oil storage facility in Latvia on May 7 and caused a fire. The incident triggered a political crisis, as a result of which the Minister of Defense Andris Spruds first resigned and then the government of Prime Minister Evika Siliňová fell.
