Concern of Ukraine war spreading as drone shot down in Latvia, another lands Moldova

Latvia’s military said it shot down a drone that entered the country’s airspace on Monday — the latest in a series of drone-related incidents in eastern European NATO countries linked directly to Russia’s ongoing, full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Latvian military said in a social media post that NATO allied fighter jets “successfully shot down a drone that entered Latvia’s airspace.” 

The Baltic country shares borders with Russia and its close ally Belarus, but it is unclear which country the drone originated from. Ukrainian and Russian drones have breached regional borders repeatedly, and the Baltic states have previously blamed Russia’s ongoing assault for inadvertent Ukrainian incursions.   

In a separate incident, a drone crashed down and exploded on a field in eastern Moldova, which shares a border with Ukraine but is not a NATO member. Moldova’s defense ministry said in a statement that the drone was seen entering the country’s airspace in the early hours of Monday as “a massive Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine took place.”

“Regardless of the drone’s origin, responsibility for any drone that lands on the territory of the Republic of Moldova lies with Russia,” Moldova’s foreign ministry said in a post on Telegram, according to the AFP news agency.

The incidents come less than two weeks after two Russian drones exploded over Romania, one of which hit an apartment building near the border with Ukraine, wounding two people.

Repeated incursions into the airspace of neighboring countries across eastern Europe in recent months have stoked concerns of a possible expansion of Russia’s war on Ukraine into NATO territory.