Lithuania issued an air alert on Wednesday after a stray drone was detected near the nation’s border with Belarus, with NATO’s Baltic air-policing mission activated because of this.
The incident got here after two Ukrainian drones, supposed for Russia, got here down over an empty oil storage facility in Latvia earlier this month — sparking a disaster that has led to the collapse of the governing coalition. A NATO jet shot down a drone in Estonian airspace final week.
“Russia’s public threats in opposition to our Baltic States are fully unacceptable,” von der Leyen stated in a message posted on social media final week. “Russia and Belarus bear direct duty for drones endangering the lives and safety of individuals on our Japanese flank. Europe will reply with unity and power.”
The three Baltic international locations have warned that Moscow is looking for to capitalize on the incidents to drive a wedge between Ukraine and its EU allies — issuing a joint assertion during which they rejected “Russia’s blatant disinformation marketing campaign and its fabricated accusations following the airspace violations, which Russia shamelessly makes use of to masks its army failures.”
The EU in February launched a plan to bolster its frontline states amid considerations that Russia’s struggle in Ukraine and hybrid techniques threat damaging native economies. The European Fee can also be engaged on plans to assist international locations bolster their air protection capabilities with joint procurement and improvement schemes.
Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting.
