Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur reported that the Baltic air defense shot down a drone that entered Estonian airspace. It is likely a drone of Ukrainian origin.
He told Delfi about this.
"For the first time, we ourselves shot down a drone," Pevkur emphasized, adding that it was shot down over Lake Võrtsjärv.
According to him, a drone entered Estonian airspace on May 19 around noon. The Defence Forces sent out an EE-ALARM message at 12:00 pm about a possible air threat in southern Estonia. After it was shot down by the Baltic Air Defense, at 12:55 pm the Defence Forces sent out a message that the drone threat had passed.
The Head of the Estonian Ministry of Defence said that it was probably a drone of Ukrainian origin, which was heading towards targets in russia. More precise details are to be found out by the Air Force and the Security Police.
In addition, Pevkur told ERR that information about the drone came from the Latvian National Armed Forces, and that Estonia's own radars recorded the movement of the drone towards the south of the country.
"We took the necessary measures, and a fighter jet from the NATO Baltic Air Patrol mission shot down this drone. We are currently investigating all the exact details, but it is known that the drone was shot down over Lake Võrtsjärv. As far as is known, the location of the debris, which may be on land, and not in the lake itself, is also being established," he said, noting that there is no information about civilian casualties at this time.
Local authorities told the publication that the downed drone fell into a field, no one was injured.
At the same time, in the first half of the day, the northwestern region of russia suffered another drone attack, as evidenced by the closure of airports in Pskov and St. Petersburg's Pulkovo.
Shortly before this, the governor of the Leningrad Oblast, Aleksandr Drozdenko, announced a threat of UAV attacks in the region. At 11:48 am, Drozdenko reported on social media that russian air defense forces had shot down two drones over the Leningrad Oblast.
Airport shutdowns in russia are usually linked to drone attacks by Ukraine in the region.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Romania raised fighter jets in response to a russian drone attack on the Odesa Region on May 19, and also warned residents near the border with Ukraine of the threat.
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