Latvia, Lithuania warn of threat in airspace near Belarus

VILNIUS, Nov 10 (Reuters) – People in two of Latvia’s regions along the borders of Russia and Belarus were told to take shelter because of an airspace threat, the Latvian army said on Tuesday.

Interceptor drone and air defence units were activated, the army said in a statement posted on social media X.

NATO fighters on the Baltic air defence mission have been scrambled in response to an object in Belarus flying towards the Baltics, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre said in a separate statement.

Ukrainian military drones have been straying into the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, creating concerns that the war in Ukraine is spilling over into NATO countries that border Russia and its ally Belarus.

As Ukraine attacks Russian Baltic Sea oil shipping ports, some of its drones have missed their targets and led to security warnings in neighbouring countries. In the case of Latvia, it led to a government collapse earlier this year.

Moscow has accused Kyiv of using NATO airspace as cover for attacks, while Kyiv says some of its drones have been steered off course by Russian signal jamming. The NATO countries blame Russia for the incidents, saying it ignited the war.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas and Janis Laizans, writing by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Terje Solsvik)