By NATO fighter jet shoots down a drone in Latvian airspace
Servicemen of the Latvian National Guard gather before a search operation for the debris from an intercepted drone. (Reuters: Janis Laizans)
In short:
A NATO fighter jet has shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace, a spokesperson from the alliance says.
It was not immediately clear where the drone had come from, though Latvia and other countries on NATO’s eastern flank have suffered repeated incursions into their airspace as the war between Russia and Ukraine has dragged on.
What’s next?
NATO has launched an investigation into the incident.
A NATO fighter jet shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace, a spokesperson from the alliance says, confirming earlier statements by Latvia’s defence ministry and military.
The military alliance has launched an investigation, the spokesperson said on Friday, local time, as concerns grow in Europe over unauthorised drone activity — particularly along the military alliance’s eastern flank bordering Russia, whose war in Ukraine grinds on.
It was not immediately clear where the drone shot down over Latvia had come from.
“We can confirm that two Italian Eurofighter jets were scrambled earlier today in response to a drone over Latvian airspace,” a NATO spokesperson said.
“One of the Eurofighters shot down the drone,” they added, saying that “two Turkish F-16 fighter jets were also scrambled” and all aircraft “were operating under NATO command”.
Earlier on Friday, Latvia’s defence ministry wrote on X that NATO “fighter jets have successfully shot down a foreign unmanned aerial vehicle that had entered Latvia as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare”.
Both Russia and Ukraine are relying on heavy use of drones to launch attacks in the four-year conflict.
Latvia, an EU and NATO member state of about 1.9 million inhabitants, shares a border with Russia to the east.
It and other countries along NATO’s eastern flank including Romania and Poland have suffered repeated incursions into their airspace.
Russia dismisses Black Sea ceasefire
Both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks in recent weeks against commercial ships in the Black Sea. (Reuters: Victor Sayenko)
Russia on Friday dismissed the idea of a ceasefire with Ukraine in the Black Sea, saying it saw no grounds for “half-measures” that would offer a respite to the other side.
Both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks in recent weeks against commercial ships in the Black Sea, driving world grain prices higher.
In a statement, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of “brazen acts of terrorism” against shipping, while making no mention of Russia’s own attacks.
“We view these attacks as a deliberate policy aimed at destabilising civilian shipping in the Black Sea region to further escalate tensions and prolong the conflict, all with the blatant acquiescence of regional neighbours,” Ms Zakharova said.
“At the same time, we see no signs of improvement in the situation and, consequently, no grounds for half-measures that merely grant the Kyiv regime a temporary breathing space.”
Ms Zakharova said she was commenting on a statement by Türkiye’s foreign minister in a media interview that Ankara had put proposals to both Russia and Ukraine for a moratorium on military operations in the Black Sea.
She said Russia had received no formal proposal from Türkiye.
No peace talks on Ukraine have taken place since February, when the United States went to war with Iran and broke off its efforts to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv.
3 dead and 20 injured in latest attacks on Ukraine
Ukrainian rescuers working to extinguish a fire in a damaged residential building following an air attack in Donetsk. (AFP: Ukrainian Emergency Service)
Russia attacked 12 Ukrainian regions overnight, wounding dozens of people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
In Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a Russian glide bomb demolished six floors of a 10-story apartment block, killing one person and wounding 16 others, he said.
Russian jet-powered drones also struck a home in northern Ukraine on Friday, local time, killing a 29-year-old woman and her nine-year-old son, officials said.
A Russian strike in northern Ukraine’s Sumy region also wounded four other people, including the dead boy’s father and grandmother, who were hospitalised with severe burns, the regional military administration chief said.
Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, extended their long-range strike campaign against Russian infrastructure, hitting the port of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad region north of Moscow and starting a brief fire, its governor said.
Ust-Luga is one of Russia’s largest oil and gas export terminals located more than 800 kilometres from Ukraine.
It has been a frequent target of Ukrainian drone attacks this summer, as Kyiv seeks to undermine Russian oil exports that provide Moscow with vital revenue for its war effort.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defences on Friday intercepted 553 Ukrainian drones over 18 Russian regions, as well as occupied Crimea and the waters of the Azov and the Black seas.
ABC/wires
Originally published on www.abc.net.au — View original