NATO fighter launched missiles to shoot down Ukrainian UAV in Estonia

The Estonian military said an unmanned aircraft (UAV) believed to be from Ukraine entered the country’s airspace around noon on May 19 and moved to the southeastern region of the country. The UAV was shot down by a Romanian F-16 fighter flying in training with a single missile.

This F-16 fighter is being deployed by Romania in Lithuania to participate in NATO’s Baltic airspace patrol mission.

“The incident occurred in the context that Russia is implementing high-intensity electronic warfare measures, including jamming and spoofing GPS signals,” the Estonian military said.

The force added that the UAV was monitored before entering Estonian airspace, adding that the decision to shoot it down was made to “minimize the impact on civilians and infrastructure”.

NATO confirmed that a Romanian fighter shot down a UAV over Estonian airspace. The alliance said an investigation was underway and it was “ready and able to respond to any potential aerial threat”.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said he had contacted his Ukrainian counterpart Mykhailo Fedorov, who “apologized” after the incident.

When commenting on the information that a UAV was brought down over Estonia, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi accused Russia of continuing to redirect Ukrainian UAVs towards the Baltic states using electronic warfare measures.

“We apologize to Estonia and all our Baltic friends for such unexpected incidents,” he said.

According to AFP news agency, this is the first time a foreign UAV has been intercepted by NATO in the airspace of a Baltic country since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in early 2022.

Ukraine has increasingly conducted long-range raids using UAVs against Russia, including targeting areas near the Baltic region. Since March, a number of Ukrainian military UAVs have strayed into the airspace of NATO countries bordering Russia, including Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.