French NATO jet shoots down drone over Latvia as another explodes in Moldova

According to France 24, the Latvian defence ministry said the Rafale shot down the UAV in a sector south-east of Riga after it failed to respond to warnings. The NATO Combined Air Operations Centre at Ramstein assessed the incident in under an hour and said the action followed the "unauthorised aerial vehicle takedown protocol," according to its public bulletin. Civilian air traffic in the area was temporarily rerouted.

In the same hours a similar UAV exploded in agricultural land in the Edinet region of northern Moldova; no casualties were reported. Chișinău's defence ministry said its teams have begun a technical examination of debris in coordination with experts from the EU Border Assistance Mission. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov called the two incidents "a new phase of cross-border tension," while Moscow's first response rejected any link with Russia and described the reports as "speculation based on unauthorised sources."

EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said the wave of violations amounts to a "serious security strain" on the EU's eastern flank and that the bloc would consider raising the air-policing budget. NATO's extraordinary council is expected to convene in the coming days; an emergency meeting of EU defence ministers in Brussels has been called.