NATO fighter jets shot down a suspected kamikaze drone that had strayed into Latvian airspace near the border with Russia, in an incident that underscores the growing risk of spillover from Russia's war in Ukraine to alliance territory. Latvia's defence ministry said the drone was likely Ukrainian and had been diverted into Latvian airspace by Russian electromagnetic warfare during a massive Ukrainian strike on the Russian oil port of Ust-Luga, roughly 200 miles away. Officials warned that further such incursions remain possible as long as the conflict continues.

The incident occurred in the Balvi municipality in eastern Latvia, prompting airspace threat declarations in five border municipalities and additional airspace restrictions in Finland. NATO's Baltic air policing fighters intercepted and destroyed the drone, which had been part of a four-hour Ukrainian assault on Russia's Leningrad region before being disrupted by Russian defences. The episode follows a pattern of recent drone incursions into NATO's eastern flank, including three drones shot down by Romanian jets last month, amid wider concerns over explosions at facilities in Italy and the Netherlands linked to the war.