Estonian air force chief: two drones posed potential threat near border overnight

Estonian Air Force Commander Rasmus Valge said that around 2am on the night heading into Tuesday, Ukraine was observed carrying out a large-scale drone strike on Russian territory, with roughly ten drones spotted in the border area between Russia and Estonia. Estonia's public broadcaster ERR had reported this earlier.

According to Valge, around 3am one of these drones, while still inside Russian airspace, began heading toward Narva, prompting an alert to be sent to Estonian residents and NATO Baltic air-policing fighter jets to scramble from Ämari air base. Shortly before it could have crossed into Estonia, the drone changed course and flew back into Russian territory without entering Estonian airspace.

Second incident half an hour later

About thirty minutes later, another drone did cross into Estonia's southeastern border zone, triggering a fresh alert for residents. Valge said several more similar drones were located just beyond Estonia's border at the time.

Both incidents ended without consequences for Estonia — the drones did not fall on Estonian territory, and NATO fighters did not open fire. The commander said the situation in the country is currently calm.

Valge's account does not confirm earlier reports by some Estonian media that drones had also entered Latvian airspace that same night.

Alert issued in Latvia too

Overnight into Tuesday, Latvia's National Armed Forces also issued a warning about a possible airspace threat. At 2am, residents of Ludza district received a phone alert about a potential threat, and at 2:25am the military announced the threat had ended. At 3:37am, the armed forces issued another alert about an air threat in the district, which also triggered NATO Baltic air-policing fighters. The threat in the district was called off at 4:17am.