Moscow: ‘The response to anti-Russian provocations in the Baltic will be devastating’. Drone alert in Latvia and Estonia
Trump: ‘Russia at the G20? We get on well with everyone.’ Zelensky: 12 killed in Russian attacks overnight
New tensions over a possible spread of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to the Baltic states. According to reports from the Estonian national broadcaster ERR, several drones triggered a night-time air raid alert in Latvia and subsequently entered Estonian airspace, where NATO fighter jets from the Baltic Air Policing Mission continued to search for them. The news has been reported by press agencies in both Baltic countries.
At 3.11 am, the Estonian Defence Forces issued an air threat warning for several counties. Lieutenant Colonel Uku Arold, head of the Strategic Communications Department of the Estonian Defence Forces, stated that the drones had violated Estonian airspace and that Turkish Air Force fighter jets, stationed at Amari Air Base in Estonia as part of the NATO’s rotational air defence mission, had been scrambled in response. “There were drones moving parallel to the eastern border of Estonia and also that of Latvia, before entering Estonian territory, which is why we raised the alarm,” said Arold.
The alert was lifted before 6 am, according to reports by Err. Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also stated that the drones had ‘entered Estonian airspace’ during the night. In response to the situation, NATO fighter jets took off from Amari Air Base. Subsequently, the Estonian Defence Forces lifted the air alert. As Tsahkna emphasised, NATO reacted swiftly and exactly as expected: ‘The Alliance is vigilant and ready to protect allied territory,’ the minister reiterated.
A few hours later, Moscow made this threat even clearer. Russia will give an appropriate response “to the organisers of anti-Russian adventures in the Baltic, and it will be devastating for them”. This was stated by Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, during a briefing on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. “In the event of a further escalation of the political and military situation in the Baltic (...) Russia’s response to the instigators of these reckless anti-Russian escapades will be decisive and devastating for them,” she said – as quoted by TASS – Zakharova, who also described certain German actions as “revanchist in nature”.
On the home front, seven people were killed in Kyiv overnight following a Russian ballistic missile attack on a railway depot and other railway infrastructure; six of them were railway workers. A total of 12 people were killed, including an Indian national, and dozens were injured in the Russian attacks that struck Ukraine overnight. President Volodymyr Zelensky provided the figures in a post on X. ‘Russia always plans its attacks with the specific aim of causing as much destruction as possible and inflicting harm on the population,’ he stated, ‘and it succeeds only when air defence capabilities are insufficient. The number of victims of Russian terrorism depends directly on every new aid package.’
