An Iranian-designed Russian bomb drone of the Shahed type violated Latvian aerospace on 7 September and crashed in the NATO member state, Latvian officials said during a press conference on Monday 9 September.
During the press conference, Colonel Viesturs Masulis – Air Force Commander of the National Armed Forces – said that the drone was carrying explosives that survived the impact. A military bomb squad took care of the small device at the crash site. Latvian authorities were clear in stating they believe Russia aimed for a target in Ukraine, but that for unknown reasons it strayed off course. The Shahed entered Latvia from Belarus.
Poland and Rumania
The incident was not the first for NATO member states bordering Belarus and Ukraine. Latvia, Poland and Rumania have had their aerospace violated by the Russian military multiple times in the past two years. At the end of August an unidentified object flew almost 25 kilometres into Polish aerospace, before three radar stations lost contact with it.
In almost all the cases, it were drones or missiles that missed their targets in Ukraine and entered NATO airspace. On one occasion, two Belarusian helicopters flew deliberately briefly into Polish airspace and were photographed by Polish tourists in the area.
NATO air forces have scrambled multiple times lately when large-scale Russian missile and drone launches were detected. So far, the flying devices that went astray were not shot down, but monitored. | © 2024 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. The featured press photo shows Latvian/NATO troops in action during the March 2024 exercise Crystal Arrow in Latvia. (Photo by Latvijas Armija)