Suspected Ukrainian drone shot down by NATO jet over Estonia

A suspected Ukrainian drone, which entered Estonian airspace, has been shot down by a Romanian fighter jet, Estonia’s defense minister said Tuesday.

The drone was shot down over Lake Vortsjarv, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told public broadcaster ERR.

“We received advance information from our Latvian colleagues, and our radar also detected a drone moving into southern Estonia. We activated the necessary measures, and a Baltic Air Policing fighter jet shot the drone down.”

According to the report, the drone was shot down by a Romanian fighter jet based in Siauliai, Lithuania, as part of NATO’s air policing mission.

Pevkur said the drone incident is over for now, adding that the country’s data does not show any other unauthorized drones in Estonian airspace.

“It was most likely a Ukrainian drone that had veered off course due to Russian electronic interference,” said Marko Mihkelson, chair of the Estonian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Estonian defense minister also said that his Ukrainian counterpart Mykhailo Fedorov apologized for the incident during a phone call.