NATO Members Romania, Latvia Report Russian Drones Entered Their Airspace

NATO alliance members Latvia and Romania reported that Russian military drones crossed into their airspace on Sept. 7, risking an escalation in the current Russia–Ukraine war.
The Romanian military stated that it suspects that Russian forces had deployed the drone as part of an attack on Ukrainian port facilities just across the border.
While the drone fragments that fell in Romania may have been part of a Russian attack on southwest Ukraine, it is unclear why a drone may have crashed in Latvia.
Although Latvia borders Russia, it is separated from Ukraine by Belarus.
The Iranian government has supplied Russian forces with drones since 2022.
The various Shahed drone types include aircraft designed for aerial reconnaissance, as well as ones that can carry and launch munitions.
Other types of Shahed drones are also employed as “loitering munitions” or “one-way drones” that are designed to crash into targets and detonate an onboard explosive.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Latvian Defense Ministry about the type of drone that crashed in Rezekne but the ministry declined to offer more specific details.
Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds urged greater NATO cooperation to support Latvia’s air defenses.
“We need to strengthen the defense of NATO’s airspace and promote the presence of allies in Latvia through the active implementation of the NATO air defense rotation model,” Spruds said, in a translated statement on Sept. 9.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment on the drone incidents but neither office responded by publication time.
The pair of incidents risks escalating the current conflict in Ukraine into a broader confrontation between NATO and Russia.
He did not comment on the crash in Latvia.
The Sept. 7 incidents are not the first time the war in Ukraine has spilled over into a NATO member nation’s territory.
Two citizens of Poland—a NATO member nation—were killed when an errant munition landed in the southeastern Polish village of Przewodow, a short distance from the Polish–Ukrainian border.