Russian jamming blamed after Nato jet downs Ukrainian drone over Estonia | Estonia
A Romanian F-16 NATO jet shot down a drone over Estonia on Tuesday; This appears to be the latest example of Russia’s case of electronic jamming directing long-range Ukrainian drones into alliance territory.
a local resident said Estonian public broadcaster ERR said it saw two warplanes belonging to the NATO force that monitors the skies over the Baltic states flying in the area before a loud explosion brought down the drone. He said the drone crashed about 30 meters away from the nearest residential building.
Estonian defense minister Hanno Pevkur said that after analyzing its orbit, “we decided that we had to bring it down.”
Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said: “We apologize to Estonia and all our Baltic friends for such undesirable events.
“We have and continue to cooperate closely between our expert agencies to get to the bottom of each case and look for ways to prevent them.”
He blamed Moscow for the incident, saying Kiev targeted legitimate targets in Russia and never attempted to use Baltic airspace for drones.
This was the latest in a series of incidents in which Ukrainian drones were blown off course by Russian electronic jammers. The Latvian government collapsed last week amid a crisis stemming from its response to a similar incident that resulted in two drones exploding at an oil storage facility.
Ukraine is planning to launch drone attacks on Russia from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service said on Tuesday and warned of “just revenge”.
Officials from the three Baltic states reject plans to use their airspace for launching or flying drones.
Latvian president Edgars Rinkēvičs wrote to X: “Russia lies that Latvia allows any country to use Latvian airspace and territory to launch attacks against Russia or any other country.”
Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said the only reason Ukrainian drones appeared over Estonian territory was because Russia’s electronic warfare had thrown them off course.
“Estonia did not allow its airspace to be used for attacks against Russia. Such incidents are linked to Russia’s jamming activities,” he said.
In an interview with the Guardian in Tallinn at the weekend, Tsahkna struck a similar tone: “These are the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This is a desperate move to divide the west and at the same time put pressure on us to tell the Ukrainians to stop this because Ukraine is hitting the lifeline,” he said.
Estonia supports Ukraine’s right to attack targets in Russia, the official said, adding that the two capitals are in constant contact and Tallinn has asked Kiev to be more careful about drone routes due to Russia’s blocking.
Pevkur reiterated that Ukraine should be careful about unmanned aerial vehicles after the attack on Tuesday.
“We have always told the Ukrainians that if you are attacking Russian positions or Russian targets, those routes need to be as far away from NATO territory as possible,” he told The Associated Press.
Additional reporting by Jakub Krupa
