Latvia has confirmed that a drone shot down by a NATO fighter jet after entering its airspace on August 14 was of Ukrainian origin, according to the country’s armed forces.
The drone was intercepted over Balvi municipality in northeast Latvia by a fighter operating as part of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission. Latvian authorities had earlier said the aircraft entered Latvian airspace most likely as a result of Russian electronic warfare activity.
The drone was initially described only as a “foreign unmanned aerial vehicle”. Latvia’s National Armed Forces said on August 20 that analysis of the recovered debris had established its Ukrainian origin.
The military has not disclosed further details about the specific type or mission of the drone. It said it would withhold the model to avoid affecting the planned defensive activities and capabilities of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Latvian officials believe the drone entered the country from neighbouring Belarus. Latvia’s defence minister Raivis Melnis said on August 17 that the aircraft had crossed into Latvian airspace from Belarus before being intercepted.
“The risks of drones flying in exist,” Melnis told Latvian Television. “Ukraine, in defending itself, is continuing strikes on Russian territory with drones as well, while Russia is carrying out countermeasures.”
The incident occurred in the early hours of August 14, when Latvian authorities issued an airspace warning at 4am covering the Augšdaugava, Preiļi, Rēzekne, Balvi and Alūksne municipalities in the country’s east. The alert was lifted 50 minutes later.
NATO fighter jets were scrambled and subsequently shot down the drone at high altitude over Balvi municipality. The wreckage came down in marshy woodland about five kilometres from the centre of Rugāji, the head of the local administration, Sandra Kapteine, told news agency LETA.
No people were hurt and no property was damaged. Sappers destroyed the remains of the aircraft in controlled explosions on August 15.
Latvia’s armed forces had said on the day of the incident that the drone’s presence was linked to Russian electronic warfare. Such interference can disrupt the navigation of drones operating in the war in Ukraine and cause them to deviate from their intended flight paths.
The armed forces said such measures could also degrade military communications and targeting, in some cases preventing the accurate use of weapons.
The interception was carried out by an Italian fighter assigned to NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission. Italy took over the mission on July 31 with four Eurofighter Typhoons and about 200 personnel based at Šiauliai in Lithuania, relieving French and Romanian detachments.
The alliance has policed Baltic airspace since 2004, when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined NATO, and reinforced the mission in 2014 by adding a second base at Ämari in Estonia. Lielvārde in Latvia has been able to host air policing aircraft since 2024.
Latvia has no combat aircraft of its own, leaving the defence of its airspace to the rotating allied detachments.
NATO leaders agreed at a summit in Ankara to reclassify the operation as an air defence mission, Latvian Television reported on July 9. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said the change would give participating countries a broader mandate and speed up decisions to destroy objects that threaten the population, such as drones.
The incident is not the first time a Ukrainian-origin drone has entered Latvian airspace. On March 25 Latvia identified a drone as Ukrainian after examining recovered debris, in that case one that had crossed in from the Russian side, and opened a criminal investigation.
Latvian authorities said at the time that no civilians were injured and no civilian infrastructure was damaged. Romanian fighters serving on the Baltic mission shot down a drone over Estonian territory during the previous rotation, Lithuanian broadcaster LRT reported.
The latest incident comes amid repeated reports of drones connected to the war in Ukraine entering or approaching the airspace of NATO member states. Melnis has acknowledged that Latvia does not yet have enough counter-drone systems and radar along its eastern border.
He said Latvian-made equipment was due to be installed along the entire frontier with Russia and Belarus by the end of September. The minister added that he would review the timetable with the armed forces.
The procurement has become politically contested. Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs and Melnis’s predecessor, Andris Sprūds, have exchanged accusations on social media over the purchase of counter-drone equipment.
Melnis said interceptor drones bought from a Latvian manufacturer from late 2025 had initially been ordered without explosive warheads, and that a separate procurement for those warheads was under way. He rejected the suggestion that this amounted to negligence.
Latvia has warned that further incidents remain possible while the war continues.
