A Romanian fighter jet based at Lithuania’s Siauliai Air Base shot down a drone over Lake Võrtsjärv in southern Estonia on 19 May 2026, Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur announced, ERR reported. Taavi Aas, head of the Põltsamaa municipality, said that the drone crashed into a field near Põltsamaa. No civilian damage or injuries were reported. Pevkur said that the Estonian Defence Forces (EDF) received advance information from Latvia, and an Estonian radar detected the drone moving into Estonian airspace. EDF issued an air alert in large parts of southern and central Estonia, while the Latvian National Armed Forces issued an alert to residents of several municipalities in eastern and central Latvia, LSM reported. Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the Estonian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said that the drone was most likely a Ukrainian drone that had veered off course due to Russian jamming. The incident was related to Ukrainian drone attacks against targets in Russia’s Leningrad region.
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