At least 24 drone incidents recorded in Baltic states since start of 2025
Since the start of 2025, drones have been reported in the Baltic states at least 24 times, either entering airspace or being found on the ground. Novaya Gazeta Europe counted 12 such episodes in Latvia, seven in Lithuania, and five in Estonia. Nine incidents were recorded across the three countries in all of 2025, while there have been at least 15 already in 2026.
The incidents have increasingly disrupted everyday life in the Baltics. On 20 May, Lithuania declared its first-ever red-level air threat alert after a drone appeared near the Belarusian border, with Vilnius residents told to seek shelter. A day earlier, a NATO fighter jet shot down a drone in Estonian airspace for the first time. In other cases, drone debris has been found on beaches, in water, or inside nature reserves.
Latvia issued air threat warnings for the third consecutive day on Thursday after its military confirmed that at least one drone had entered the country’s airspace. The alerts covered the Ludza, Krāslava, Rēzekne, and Augšdaugava districts, with residents urged to seek shelter. Train services were suspended across the affected regions, and children in Daugavpils, the country’s second-largest city, were kept inside their schools. Additional air defence units were deployed to the eastern border.
A wave of drone appearances were recorded over other European countries in autumn 2025, when European authorities began recording the aircraft over Poland and Romania, as well as MiG-31 fighters over Estonia. In September, unidentified drones began appearing near airports and military facilities across several EU countries, grounding flights and alarming residents. The European Parliament subsequently recommended that EU member states shoot down Russian drones and aircraft violating European borders.
Novaya Europe’s drone tally is likely an undercount: in a number of incidents, authorities have not specified how many aircraft crossed the border. Origins have also proved difficult to pin down; some drones have been identified as Russian, others as Ukrainian, and some as having come from Belarusian territory. European officials and Kyiv have confirmed that some of the drones entering Baltic territory belonged to Ukraine’s military. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said that Russia is using electronic warfare to redirect Ukrainian drones away from their targets inside Russia. Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, has meanwhile claimed that Ukraine intends to strike Russian territory from Latvia — an allegation both Kyiv and Riga have denied.
The most consequential incident to date came on 7 May, when several drones entered Latvia from Russian territory. One came down at an oil depot in Rēzekne, triggering a political crisis that ended with the collapse of the Latvian government.
