COPENHAGEN, March 31 (Reuters) – Estonia and Latvia detected foreign drone activity near their borders with Russia overnight, their militaries said, while Finnish border guards said they found a drone near theirs early on Tuesday, in the latest incidents to unsettle NATO’s eastern flank.
Estonia’s defence forces said in a statement they had detected “potentially dangerous air activity” inside and outside the Baltic country’s airspace overnight. The threats have since passed, they said.
It was “highly likely that Ukrainian drones that went astray were involved,” Colonel Uku Arold told Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR.
Estonian and Latvian authorities did not reply to a request for comment.
Debris from at least one drone was found in Estonia’s Tartu County, with reports of further finds being investigated, according to ERR.
Latvia’s armed forces said in a separate statement they had detected an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) near the Latvian-Russian border late on Monday. The aircraft did not enter Latvian airspace, they added.
MORE DRONE ATTACKS
Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and export routes over recent weeks, some close to Russia’s border with the Baltic countries and Finland.
“In recent weeks, Ukraine has struck Russia’s oil ports on the Gulf of Finland with more than 2,500 drones,” Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told a press conference, adding that there was nothing to suggest that Finland was facing a direct military threat.
A stray Ukrainian drone crashed in Finland on Sunday, the first time the Russia-Ukraine war spilled on to Finnish soil. Police said on Monday the drone appeared to have carried an unexploded warhead.
Finland’s defence forces and border guard have stepped up their readiness due to the Ukrainian attacks in Russia over the past two weeks, they said on Tuesday.
“When it looks like there is a bigger operation, we have our jets in the air, as they were almost throughout last night,” Finnish Air Force Commander Timo Herranen told the press conference.
The Finnish Border Guard said in a statement they had detected a UAV on a frozen lake near the Russian border and that it and police were investigating the incident. The Border Guard said the situation posed no danger to the public.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas, Janis Laizans and Anne Kauranen, writing by Stine Jacobsen and Anna Ringstrom, editing by Andrew Heavens and Keith Weir)
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