A French military jet shot down a Russian drone which entered NATO airspace earlier today.
Locals in eastern Latvia had been told to hunt shelter indoors due to threat from the mystery drone.
The Latvian Army said the drone had flown into its airspace from Russia as a part of ‘Russian electromagnetic warfare’.
On X, the Army posted: ‘Allied fighter jets successfully shoot down a drone flying into Latvian airspace!’
A French Rafale fighter jet, which was on a NATO mission, managed to shoot down the drone before anyone was hurt.
It’s the most recent incursion of Russian drones into NATO airspace as Putin looks to expand his aggression from Ukraine into the Baltic States.
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Last month, it was reported that Putin was stockpiling fibre-optic drones for a possible future assault on NATO.
The Kremlin may have already got amassed as much as 130,000 fibre-optic drones, a stockpile that might rise to 200,000 by the tip of summer.
FPV drones are especially dangerous because they use hair-thin fibre-optic cables slightly than radio signals, making them far harder to jam electronically by NATO defences.
Russian military insiders consider the weapons could overwhelm Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania within the opening stages of an assault designed to shock Europe into submission before NATO can fully react.
The Kremlin sees the Baltic states as uniquely vulnerable because, although they possess advanced electronic warfare capabilities, they lack Ukraine’s combat experience with mass drone warfare.
Russian planners also allegedly see Europe as lacking the political will for a chronic fight over the Baltics — particularly while Donald Trump is in the White House.
In March, organisation Volya said they’d received confirmation from sources within the Russian Ministry of Defence that Putin’s plan to ‘invade’ the Baltic states has moved to the subsequent stage.
‘The Russian political leadership believes that European countries might be reluctant to fight a nuclear power, especially without direct support from america,’ Volya’s evaluation said.
‘Putin and his circle consider that major European countries wouldn’t risk going to war with Russia over the Baltic states.’
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