On the night of 1 September, two drones near Estonia’s border with Russia posed a potential threat to the country’s airspace. NATO fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the targets.
This was stated by the Commander of the Estonian Air Force, Brigadier General Riivo Valge, ERR reports.
The commander of the air force noted that at around 2 a.m. it became apparent that Ukraine was carrying out a large-scale drone attack on Russian territory. About ten drones were spotted near the Russian-Estonian border.
At around three o’clock, one of these drones headed for Narva, and as a result, we began alerting the population.
In response, Estonia deployed ground air defence units and scrambled fighter jets from Emari Air Base.
However, this drone soon changed its trajectory and returned to Russian airspace without crossing the border.
The brigadier general said that about half an hour later, a second incident occurred.
The drone crossed the Estonian state border in the southeast of the country and was in the border zone. Due to the unpredictable behaviour of the device, the Defence Forces also activated the public alert system
According to Valge, both incidents ended without consequences for Estonia. The drones did not fall on the country’s territory, and the fighter jets did not open fire.
He added that there were even more drones just beyond the Estonian border.
As a reminder, Estonia has indefinitely maintained a reduced operating schedule for automobile checkpoints on the border with Russia. The Narva, Koidula, and Luhamaa checkpoints operate daily from 07:00 to 19:00. The authorities explain the decision by the security situation and the need to more effectively allocate border service resources.
