NATO fighter jet stationed in Lithuania shoots down drone in Estonia

A drone was shot down in Estonia by a NATO fighter jet stationed in Lithuania, Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur told reporters on Tuesday.

"We share airspace surveillance with Latvia and Lithuania," Pevkur said. "The drone was shot down by a Romanian fighter jet based in Šiauliai Air Base, Lithuania.”

The jet operates as part of the NATO Air Policing mission, with fighter planes stationed in Estonia and Lithuania.

This marks the first time a drone that violated Baltic airspace was shot down by a NATO fighter jet.

The target was “a Ukrainian drone that had strayed into Estonia”, Marko Mihkelson, chair of the Estonian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, said on social media.