NATO confirmed on Tuesday that one of its F16 jets from the Baltic air policing mission based in Lithuania had shot down a drone over Estonian airspace.

Estonia and Latvia both issued air alert threats reporting a drone in their airspace. It was not immediately clear whether they were referring to the same or different aircraft.

A local resident reported witnessing two fighter jets, part of a NATO force patrolling the Baltic skies, before a loud explosion brought the drone down approximately 30 meters from a residential building.

Estonia's defense minister, Hanno Pevkur, confirmed the decision to take down the drone after analyzing its trajectory.

Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesperson, Heorhii Tykhyi, issued an apology to Estonia and its Baltic allies for the unintended incident.

He emphasized that Ukraine's targets were legitimate sites within Russia and denied any attempt to utilize Baltic airspace for its drone operations, squarely blaming Moscow for the diversion.

This event marks the latest in a series of occurrences where Ukrainian drones have been veered off course by Russian electronic warfare tactics, with the Latvian government having recently collapsed due to a crisis stemming from its response to a similar incident involving two drones at an oil storage facility.

Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service, in turn, claimed that Ukraine was planning drone attacks against Russia originating from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, issuing a warning of 'just retribution'.

However, officials from the three Baltic nations vehemently denied these accusations. Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs stated on X that 'Russia is lying about Latvia allowing any country to use Latvian airspace and territory to launch attacks against Russia or any other country.'

Estonia's foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, echoed this sentiment, asserting that the presence of Ukrainian drones over Estonian territory was solely a consequence of Russian electronic warfare disrupting their intended routes.

He stressed that Estonia has not granted permission for its airspace to be used for attacks against Russia.

Tsahkna further described these incidents as 'the consequences of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine,' characterizing them as a desperate attempt by Russia to sow division within the West and pressure allies to halt Ukrainian strikes.

While Estonia supports Ukraine's right to attack targets in Russia, Tallinn has been in constant contact with Kyiv, urging greater caution regarding drone routes, especially given the pervasive Russian jamming.

Pevkur reiterated this call for Ukrainian caution, emphasizing the need for drone trajectories to be as far as possible from NATO territory when targeting Russian positions.