The defence ministers of nine Eastern European countries have called on NATO to prepare a collective response to the growing number of cases of Russia’s violations of the airspace of states bordering Ukraine. This was reported by Komersant ukrainskyi
reports with reference to Bloomberg.
Ministers from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia signed a joint statement expressing deep concern over the intrusion of Russian drones and missiles into the territory of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member states. The heads of defence ministries of the so-called B-9 group of NATO members met in Bucharest on Wednesday.
The statement comes after Latvia, Romania and Poland recently reported incidents involving Russian drones crashing or missiles entering their airspace during attacks against Ukraine.
“This is a new reality that cannot be ignored We need a collective response within NATO to the challenges posed by modern weapons and technology, including by enhancing our ability to detect, identify and, if necessary, destroy… flying objects,” the collective statement said.
How Russia violates the airspace of other countries
on 17 September 2024, according to the Latvian military, an unidentified object approached the border from neighbouring Belarus and crossed it in the eastern part of the Krāslava region in southeastern Latvia. In response to this incident, NATO aircraft stationed in the Latvian city of Lielvārda took to the air.
on 7 September 2024, a Russian drone flew into Latvia via Belarus and crashed near the village of Gaigalava, not far from the city of Rezekne. The UAV is believed to have flown over 90 kilometres across Latvia. The country’s Ministry of Defence reported that the drone was equipped with an explosive device, which was defused after it was discovered.
Earlier, Romanian authorities reported that they had spotted a Russian drone on their territory. According to some reports, the UAV crashed on Romanian territory, while others said it simply flew over it. At the time of the Russian drone’s flight, the Romanian Ministry of Defence scrambled F-16 fighter jets and warned the population of the two nearest regions of danger.
“Groups from the Romanian Ministry of Defence, in cooperation with experts from the Information Service and the Ministry of the Interior, inspected the outskirts of Periprava in Tulcea County, where they found the wreckage of a drone of Russian origin, which will be subject to examination in accordance with established legal procedures,” the Romanian defence ministry said in a statement.
And in late August, the operational commander of the Polish Armed Forces, General Maciej Klisz, said that a Russian drone had entered Polish territory during the shelling of Ukraine. The UAV managed to fly 25 km inland, after which it disappeared from radar.