Over the past months, Ukrainian drones have crashed into the chimney of a power plant in Estonia, hit empty fuel tanks in Latvia and been shot down by Romanian fighter jets stationed in Lithuania.
For the first time in a NATO and European Union capital, Lithuanians were in underground car parks in Vilnius on Wednesday, as authorities warned of unidentified drone activity.
No one has died or been injured recently, but the increasing airspace incursions have prompted some Baltic ministers to chastise Ukraine for the violations. In Latvia, officials’ handling of the stray drones led to a that triggered the collapse of the government earlier this month.
Ukraine has ramped up attacks on Baltic Sea ports used for Russian energy exports in an attempt to hit Moscow鈥檚 war chest as U.S. President Donald Trump鈥檚 war in Iran has driven up the price of oil, a key revenue stream for the Kremlin.
As Ukraine鈥檚 drones have snaked up north, they have skirted the borders of NATO members Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland. Some of them were not detected before they crash landed in some of the Baltic states.
Ukrainian officials apologized and said the drones were aimed at military targets inside Russia but were sent off course by Russian electronic interference.
The string of airspace violations has prompted .
Ukraine is targeting Russian ports on the Baltic Sea
Ukraine’s intensifying attacks against Russia have focused on arms factories, ports on the Baltic Sea and energy facilities as the war in Iran has boosted oil prices.
It has particularly targeted the ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk, close to the borders of Estonia and Finland. Russia uses the ports to load up .
During one attack in May, which set part of the port of Primorsk on fire, more than 60 Ukrainian drones were shot down, Leningrad region governor Alexander Drozdenko said.
After stray Ukrainian drones entered Latvian airspace on May 7, the country鈥檚 Defense Minister Andris Spruds resigned, leading Prime Minister Evika Silina to also quit days later because she was left without a majority in the coalition government.
On May 19, a Romanian fighter jet based in Lithuania . Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said it was likely aimed at targets in Russia and that he told Ukraine to send its drones 鈥渁s far from NATO territory as possible.鈥�
On Wednesday, NATO fighter jets escorted an unidentified drone which crossed into Lithuania, prompting a around the capital Vilnius, Lithuania’s defense ministry said. Contact with the drone was lost and the military was searching for it, the ministry said.
Russian electronic interference sends drones off course
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Nordic and Baltic nations have increasingly warned about electronic interference from Russia disrupting communications with planes, ships and drones.
In the Baltic region, Russia often uses to send drones off course.
Satellite communications systems 鈥� known collectively as the Global Navigation Satellite System, or GNSS 鈥� receive precise time signals from satellites around 20,000 kilometers (12,400 miles) away in space. A smartphone, car, marine or aircraft navigation system compares how long it takes to receive signals from several different satellites to calculate an exact location.
Jamming occurs when a receiver is overwhelmed by a strong radio signal transmitted in the same frequency range as GNSS and other satellite navigation signals, leaving the receiver unable to fix its location or time. Spoofing involves transmitting fake signals that imitate a real GNSS satellite signal, commonly known as GPS, to mislead a phone, ship, or aircraft into thinking it is in a different place.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister K臋stutis Budrys said Tuesday that Russia is 鈥渄eliberately鈥� redirecting Ukrainian drones into Baltic airspace with electronic interference.
Drones have been entering Baltic airspace for many months
In September 2025, about putting the spotlight on holes in NATO鈥檚 air defenses, as . Those drones were not detected in advance, Estonia’s defense minister said at the time.
Neither was a Ukrainian military drone, which crashed with explosives in Lithuania last week, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, chief of Lithuania鈥檚 National Crisis Management Centre said on Sunday.
While Poland and Romania responded to the drone incursions last year by deploying 鈥� the first used by the NATO alliance aimed specifically at countering drones 鈥� that system is not in place across the entire Baltic region.
Defending against drones requires solving a complex set of technological, financial and bureaucratic problems and “there is no one solution against every type of drone,鈥� Col. Janno Ma虉rk of the Estonian Defense Forces said.
Tackling various types of drones operating at different speeds and altitudes require a layered air defense response, Ma虉rk said during military exercises in southeastern Estonia.
Budrys, the Lithuanian foreign minister, told AP in an interview Saturday that the Baltic countries are likely going to have to continue to counter incursions from Ukrainian drones as Kyiv now has the capability to reach targets 鈥渄eep in Russia鈥� as well as ports on the Baltic Sea. The way to counter those drones, he said, is actually with Ukraine’s help as the most effective anti-drone systems have been developed in the country.
Ukraine denies claims it is preparing attacks from the Baltics
The presidents of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on Thursday issued a joint statement denying Russia鈥檚 鈥渂aseless accusations鈥� after Russia鈥檚 Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, claimed on Tuesday that Ukraine is preparing to launch drone attacks against Russia from the territory of the Baltic countries.
The SVR claimed Ukrainian military personnel had already deployed to Latvia and warned that the country鈥檚 NATO membership wouldn鈥檛 protect it from 鈥渏ust retribution.鈥� It did not provide evidence for its claims.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Heorhii Tykhyi, said Tuesday that none of the Baltic states or Finland have ever allowed Ukraine to use their airspace for strikes against Russia.
Writing on social platform X, Budrys called the SVR claim a 鈥渢ransparent act of desperation鈥� and an attempt to sow chaos and distract from a 鈥渟imple reality鈥� 鈥� that Ukraine is hitting Russia’s military machine hard.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte praised the alliance鈥檚 reaction to the drone incidents, saying that they had been met with 鈥渁 calm, decisive and proportionate response.鈥�
鈥淭his is exactly what we planned and prepared for,鈥� Rutte said, blaming Russia鈥檚 war on Ukraine for the incursions.
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