Estonia shoots down "stray" drone for first time, likely Ukrainian

Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur has said that a fighter jet had for the first time shot down what was likely a "stray" Ukrainian strike drone over the country's territory after air-raid warnings were issued in part of the country.

As reported by Delfi, according to Pevkur, the UAV that entered Estonian airspace was shot down by fighter jets patrolling over the Baltic states above Lake Võrtsjärv in the central-southern part of the country, roughly halfway between Estonia's eastern border with Russia and the coast of the Gulf of Riga. The location is about 80 km from the Russian border.

"This is the first time we have independently shot down a drone," the defence minister said.

He added that the UAV was most likely a Ukrainian drone that had strayed while heading towards targets inside Russia.

The air-raid warning issued at 12:00 had not yet been lifted.

Meanwhile, air-raid warnings were issued in four regions of Latvia amid suspicions that a UAV had entered the country's territory.

Over the weekend, a drone – preliminarily identified as a Ukrainian strike UAV – was found in north-eastern Lithuania after crashing near residential buildings without detonating. Border guards reportedly detected the drone but were unable to identify its type at the time and later "lost" track of it.