Overview
- NATO fighter jets intercepted and shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace early Friday, Latvia’s armed forces said while lifting an air threat alert for eastern border municipalities.
- Latvia did not immediately identify the drone’s origin and officials said investigations are ongoing.
- Finland issued a temporary restriction on aviation and maritime traffic in the eastern Gulf of Finland near Kotka minutes after Latvia’s alert as a precaution against possible drones.
- Russia’s Leningrad region reported shooting down 15 drones overnight, and regional authorities across the north have increased protection for dams, power plants and gas infrastructure over fears of drone attacks or false-flag operations.
- Security analysts say the shootdown and near-simultaneous Russian intercepts mark a step up from the earlier alert-only pattern and could prompt more frequent kinetic responses, expanded air-defence deployments and continued local civilian warnings.