Estonia says NATO shoots down suspected Ukrainian drone

A NATO military jet shot down a suspected Ukrainian drone over Estonia, the Baltic country said, the ⁠latest in a series of airspace violations in the region amid frequent Ukrainian attacks on Russia.

Estonian public broadcaster ERR has reported that the drone was shot down by a Romanian F-16 fighter jet near Lake Võrtsjärv in the south of the country.

Estonia's defence minister Hanno Pevkur said that Latvia’s defence forces and Estonia's own radar systems had detected the drone’s movement.

"Our air radars and air force systems detected one potential threat even before entering Estonia," Mr Pevkur told a press conference in Tallinn.

"It was around noon and this air threat materialised when the drone entered Estonian territory. This was naturally followed by the launch of all the necessary procedures that had been agreed upon in advance," he said.

Mr Pevkur also said that he had received a phone call from Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov apologising for the incident.

Estonia’s defence forces issued an air threat alert across six of Estonia's southern and eastern counties, which ended at 12.55pm local time (10.55am Irish time).

Estonian police have cordoned off an area in the Poltsamaa rural municipality where drone wreckage landed.

Marko Mihkelson, the Chair of the Estonian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee wrote on Facebook: "Most likely, it was a Ukrainian drone that went off course due to Russian electronic interference activities".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that Ukraine would ⁠send experts ‌to Latvia to help protect the country's skies.

Finnish authorities on 15 May warned of suspected drone activity in the country's capital region, telling people ⁠to stay indoors and suspending traffic at Helsinki's airport for three hours.

The Finnish ⁠defence forces had scrambled fighter jets and other emergency services, but no drones were eventually found.

Additional reporting Reuters