Ukraine Weighs Sending Air Defense Experts to Baltic States After Drone Incidents

Two drones that crossed into Latvia from Russia and crashed, one after damaging an oil storage facility in Rēzekne, have pushed Ukraine and the Baltic states toward a new kind of wartime cooperation. Kyiv is now considering sending specialist teams to help Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia harden their skies against the spillover from drone warfare.

Latvia’s defence ministry said its National Armed Forces detected a potential aerial threat on May 7 after radars picked up unmanned aerial vehicles entering Latvian airspace from Russia in the Balvi and Ludza municipalities. Two of the drones crashed inside Latvian territory, and a third crossed the border before later exiting. NATO Baltic air policing jets were summoned to the site, underscoring how quickly a rear-area incident can trigger frontline-style air response.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that if the drones were confirmed to have been knocked off course by Russian electronic warfare, Ukraine would offer “our most sincere apologies to our Latvian friends.” He also said Kyiv was considering sending “Ukrainian expert teams” to help directly improve the airspace security of Baltic partners. The message was striking not only for its tone, but for what it implied: the country under attack is increasingly being viewed as a source of operational expertise for neighbors trying to defend NATO airspace.

Latvian officials have not fully converged on the significance of the incident. Defence Minister Andris Sprūds told Latvian Public Media that the drones were probably launched by Ukraine against targets in Russia. Latvia also launched a service review into the response, including whether cell broadcast alerts were activated quickly enough. The fact that Latvian state institutions had already identified another drone that crashed on March 25 as being of Ukrainian origin only sharpened the political sensitivity.

The Baltic governments are now pressing a broader case that the war next door is forcing them to adapt to a more diffuse threat. On May 8, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania said recent drone incidents fueled by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine showed the need to strengthen multi-layered air defence. Latvia and Lithuania separately called on NATO to reinforce the region’s defenses. NATO’s Air Policing mission, a permanent peacetime deployment with fighter aircraft and crews on 24/7 alert, remains the first line of response, but the alliance is also testing what comes next. From March 9 to 13, NATO’s Innovation Range for uncrewed systems in Latvia held its first campaign for UAS and counter-UAS technology.

That combination points to a new security perimeter on NATO’s eastern flank, one in which civilian territory is no longer safely behind the front. If Ukraine does send experts north, the Baltics would be importing battlefield lessons in electronic warfare, drone detection and rapid response, turning hard-won wartime knowledge into a shield for Europe’s northern edge.