French Rafale downs drone in Latvian airspace
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- French military Rafale fighter jet shot down an unidentified drone that entered Latvia's airspace from Russia on Monday, the latest such incident along NATO's eastern border; Latvian authorities said the drone was shot down at 0705 GMT near the village of Berzgale, about 30 km from the border, with no injuries or property damage reported.
- Latvian army said the drone entered "as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare" without identifying who launched it, and warned residents in eastern regions to shelter indoors; Latvian PM Andris Kulbergs hailed "swift decision-making and professional action" and a NATO official said the intercept shows "NATO's determination and ability to deter and defend."
- NATO command made the final shootdown decision, Latvian Defence Minister Raivis Melnis told reporters; the French jet is part of NATO's Baltic Air Police mission, which has patrolled the skies of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia since 2004 and also currently includes Romanian and Portuguese F-16 fighters.
- Ukraine has stepped up long-range drone attacks on Russia in the Baltic Sea area, with military drones straying into Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia; Ukraine blamed electromagnetic warfare for the deviations, and last month a Romanian military jet on the same NATO mission shot down a suspected Ukrainian drone over Estonia.
- Moldova found fragments of a Ukrainian drone in a field on Monday and blamed Russia for the war-induced spillover, prompting Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna to say the Latvia and Moldova incidents "confirm that Russia's continued aggression against Ukraine poses a threat beyond Ukraine's borders."
Why it matters: NATO's Baltic Air Police mission has now conducted two confirmed drone shootdowns in roughly a month — a Romanian jet over Estonia last month, a French Rafale over Latvia this week — with Latvia and Moldova both pointing to Russian electromagnetic warfare. The shift from monitoring to kinetic intercepts marks a concrete escalation in how the alliance responds to spillover from the Ukraine war on its eastern flank.
