Estonia and Latvia say territories hit by stray Ukrainian drones

7 hours agoLaura GozziEstonian Public BroadcastingThe chimney of a power plant in Auvere, Estonia, suffered light damage from a Ukrainian droneUkrainian drones entered Estonian and Latvian air spaces from Russia overnight, with one hitting infrastructure and another crashing on land, Tallinn and Riga have said.One struck the chimney of a power plant in Auvere, Estonia, while another exploded in the southern Kraslava region of Latvia. No major damage or injuries were reported.The incident occurred around the same time as Ukraine launched a massive drone attack on the Russian port of Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea, some 25km (15 miles) away from the Estonian border. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said Ust-Luga was attacked in three waves between 03:00 and 08:00 local time. Baltic air patrols were activated and Estonians received notifications on their phones warning of a "drone threat".The country's security police chief, Margo Palloson, said it was "a Ukrainian drone that deviated from its course, which was possibly affected in Russian airspace."Latvian Prime Minister Edgars Rinkevics also confirmed the drone that hit its territory was Ukrainian.Latvia's Defence Minister, Andris Spruds, cut short a visit to Ukraine and returned to Latvia in the wake of the incident.Egils Lescinskis, Latvian deputy chief of the Joint Staff, said the drone "most likely veered off course or was affected by electromagnetic warfare measures protecting some technically important objects". Drones can sometimes miss their targets when drone jamming systems interfere with their GPS signal. When asked whether local residents could feel safe, Lescinskis admitted no-one could "feel completely safe when military operations are taking place in neighbouring countries".He refrained from blaming Ukraine for the accident, and said the drone that crashed into the power plant's chimney was one of "the effects of Russia's full-scale war of aggression". Palloson of Estonia's security police warned that the country was likely to see "more such incidents", while the country's leader Michal said it was "pointless to create the illusion that we can build a wall on the border with Russia".A similar incident occurred on Monday night in Lithuania, when a Ukrainian attack drone crashed and exploded near the Belarusian border. Lithuanian authorities later confirmed the drone had been launched as part of that night's operations against Russia and said they would discuss the situation with Ukraine."This is a very sensitive and important area for us... All countries must ensure airspace security and inform other countries if they see risks. Belarus does the same," said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys. Ust-Luga is a major oil export terminal and the attack triggered a fire which was later brought under control, local authorities said. Earlier this week Ukraine also targeted the Primorsk port on the Baltic Sea. Kyiv has been launching regular attacks on Russian energy sites, targeting refineries, ports and tankers with drones.Almost 400 drones were fired by Ukraine towards several Russian regions overnight, including the Moscow region. Between Monday and Tuesday, Russia launched its largest attack over 24-hour period on Ukraine, firing 948 drones, killing and injuring multiple people.