European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has called for unified alert systems and improved cross-border co-ordination after a string of Ukrainian drone incursions into Baltic airspace exposed gaps in Europe’s defences.Speaking in Vilnius on Tuesday, von der Leyen called for a sweeping Nato-co-ordinated assessment of counter-drone and early warning systems along the alliance’s eastern flank.The three Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as Finland – all members of Nato – have seen a surge in Ukrainian drones straying into their airspace. Authorities said the drones were targeting Russia but veered off course due to electronic warfare jamming.“People in the Baltic countries have been experiencing what many believe belonged to another era,” von der Leyen said at a joint news conference with presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.“Air raid alerts, families sheltering, schools closing, transport interrupted. This is the reality on Europe’s eastern border in 2026,” she said.Nato fighter jets shot down a drone over Estonia last week and Lithuania faced a separate incursion Thursday, when its leadership was forced to take shelter during an alert in Vilnius.Latvia, which has issued public drone warnings for multiple days, plans to deploy military units equipped with interceptor drones along its borders with Belarus and Russia to shoot down unmanned aerial vehicles that stray into its airspace.Officials from the Baltic States and Poland have been critical of the breaches, while stopping short of condemning Kyiv outright. Ukraine has the right to defend itself against Russia’s full-scale invasion, now in its fifth year, they said, adding that the incursions into allied airspace cannot continue unchecked.“These are not isolated incidents,” von der Leyen said. “This is a deliberate Russian strategy to try to destabilise our democratic societies.”- Bloomberg