Romanian NATO Fighter Downed Drone Over Estonia That Was Jamming Attack on Russia — First Such Precedent in the Alliance
# First NATO Combat Aircraft Shoots Down Drone Over Lake Võrtsjärv On May 19, a NATO alliance combat aircraft shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle over Lake Võrtsjärv for the first time in the alliance's history. The drone, likely of Ukrainian origin, had strayed off course while attacking Russian targets. Ukraine's Defense Minister apologized. The question remains: how to prevent this from happening again.
By Tetiana Suchkova-Ladik
May 19, 2026 · 2 min read
On Tuesday, May 19, at 12:00, the armed forces of Estonia broadcast an EE-ALARM signal simultaneously for six counties in the southern part of the country — Tartumaa, Jõgevamaa, Viljandimaa, Valgamaa, Virumaa, and Põlvamaa. At 12:45, the threat was eliminated: a Romanian fighter of the Baltic Air Policing mission shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle over Lake Võrtsjärv.
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur confirmed that the drone was intercepted by allied aviation, which had been scrambled from Ämari airbase. According to him, a warning came from Latvian colleagues, Estonian radars confirmed the trajectory — and the system worked exactly as it should. "For the first time, we shot down a drone ourselves," — Pevkur emphasized, meaning: we did not find the wreckage after the fact, but intercepted it in the air.
"Most likely, it was a Ukrainian drone that went off course due to Russian radio-electronic jamming"
Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the Estonian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee
This is not the first incident, but the first with a shootdown. Since March 2025, Ukrainian combat drones have already violated the airspace of Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. In March, a drone crashed into a pipe at the Auvere power plant in Estonia and exploded. Latvia's Defense Minister Andris Spruds resigned on May 10 — after the prime minister demanded explanations regarding systemic gaps in airspace control.
Following the May 19 incident, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called Pevkur and apologized. But the apology documents the fact — it does not solve the problem.
Why drones are "wandering" in NATO
Ukrainian strike drones use navigation that is actively jammed by Russian electronic warfare throughout the entire Baltic region. Drones flying to targets in Leningrad Oblast or St. Petersburg pass near the Baltic states — and in case of signal loss, they can deviate by tens of kilometers from their assigned course.
- May 19 — shootdown over Lake Võrtsjärv (Estonia), apparently during a Ukrainian Armed Forces attack on Russia
- March 2025 — a Ukrainian drone exploded on a pipe at the Auvere power plant, several devices crossed the Gulf of Finland
- March 2025 — debris of a Ukrainian drone was found in the municipality of Kastre in Tartumaa County
Due to the alert on May 19, a Finnair flight changed its route, and the morning departure from Tartu to Helsinki was cancelled. Civil aviation is becoming a hostage to a military navigation problem.
A precedent that changes the rules
Until Tuesday, no NATO country had shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle in its own airspace as part of the Baltic Air Policing mission. Estonia did — and thereby established a de facto norm: a drone without permission = shootdown. Pevkur specifically emphasized: Estonia did not grant Ukraine permission to use its airspace, and Kyiv did not request such permission.
The question now facing not only Tallinn: if Ukraine coordinates large-scale night strikes on Russia, and the trajectories of drones pass near NATO borders — is a telephone apology after the fact sufficient, or is a real-time notification mechanism for allies needed?
