Estonia detects air threat overnight, defence forces say


COPENHAGEN, March 31 (Reuters) - Estonia ⁠and Latvia both detected foreign drone activity near ⁠their borders with Russia overnight, their militaries said, ‌in the latest airspace incidents to unsettle NATO's eastern flank.

Estonia's defence forces said in a statement early on Tuesday they had detected "potentially dangerous ​air activity" inside and outside the ⁠Baltic country's airspace overnight.

"A ⁠preventive threat notification was sent out," and the threats had ⁠since ‌passed, it added.

It was "highly likely that Ukrainian drones that went astray were involved," spokesperson for ⁠the Estonian defence forces, Colonel Uku Arold, told ​Estonian public ‌broadcaster ERR.

Authorities did not reply to a request for ⁠comment.

Ukraine has ​stepped up drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and export routes over recent weeks, some close to Russia's border with ⁠the Baltic countries and Finland, in ​an attempt to weaken Moscow's war economy.

Debris from at least one drone was found in Estonia's Tartu county, with reports ⁠of further finds being investigated, according to ERR.

Latvia's National Armed Forces said in a separate statement they had detected a foreign unmanned aerial vehicle near the Latvian-Russian border ​late on Monday. The aircraft did ⁠not enter Latvian airspace, it added.

A Ukrainian drone that crashed ​in Finland on Sunday carried ‌an unexploded warhead, Finnish authorities said ​on Monday.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas and Janis Laizans, writing by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Andrew Heavens)

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