The unmanned aerial vehicle that entered Latvian airspace on Saturday is an Iranian kamikaze drone of the “Shahed” (martyr) type, the command of the Latvian National Armed Forces said.
The military drone that entered Latvian airspace on Saturday and crashed was a Shahed-class craft designed by Iran and used by the Russians. The drone was targeting Ukraine, not Latvia – said the commander of the National Armed Forces, General Leonīds Kalnins.
The cargo carried by the drone was neutralized by units of the Latvian armyafter being found after impact with the ground.
An investigation is underway to determine why the drone went missing, the armed forces conference said on Monday.
The drone crashed in eastern Latvia, in an open area near Rezekne. According to preliminary information, it came from Belarus.
According to National Defense Minister Andris Spruds, the question of whether the drone was aimed at Ukraine or not is “secondary”, and the most important thing is that Latvian airspace was violated by a drone used by the attacker.
The military also reported that the drone was not shot down, because at the border “you don’t shoot left and right” and you need to be absolutely sure that the suspicious object is not, for example, a civilian object – a hang glider or a small plane. The drone’s flight path was constantly monitored – it was emphasized. It was also recalled that in the past, Belarusian drones entered Latvian airspace.
As long as the war in Ukraine continues, there is no guarantee that more such cases involving drones will not occur. – admitted General Kalnins.
In connection with the incident, a representative of the Russian embassy was summoned for an interview on Monday afternoon, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze confirmed.
Shaheds are used by the Russians under the name Gierań-2. They are 200-kilogram attack drones with a wingspan of 2.5 meters, equipped with a warhead placed in the bow. The drones reach speeds of up to 185 km/h and can hit targets up to 2,500 km away.
On the discovery of fragments of a Russian drone in the Tulcea district of the Danube Delta the Romanian Ministry of National Defense announced on Monday. Elements of another machine are being sought near the town of Caraorman.
“Teams from the Ministry of National Defense, in cooperation with experts from Romanian intelligence and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, searched the Periprava area in the Tulcea district, from where they obtained fragments of a drone of Russian origin for analysis,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
On Sunday, the Defense Ministry reported the detection of a drone that entered Romanian airspace and then left it. The drone was tracked by radars and F-16 aircraft. NATO allied structures were kept continuously informed about the situation.
Fragments of Russian drones have already fallen in Romania’s border regions in the Danube Delta. According to Romanian authorities, these were drones used in attacks on Ukraine and Romania itself was not the target of the attack. Bucharest condemned the attacks on Ukraine’s ports and civilian infrastructure.
