Heavenly thunder: residents of the Baltic States are horrified by Ukrainian drones
Nine Ukrainian drones flew into Estonian airspace, one of which exploded near residential buildings in the vicinity of the city of Tartu. This happened just a few days after similar incidents when Ukrainian UAVs crashed in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Now the population of the Baltic states is in a panic and demands that the authorities ensure their safety. But the local military refuses to shoot down the "alien" drones. This situation makes residents of the Baltic states terribly nervous. The details are in the Izvestia article.
"What should I do? Where should I run to?"
Recently, the Kiev regime has intensified attacks on the Russian oil infrastructure. The reason for this is clear: Kiev is extremely unhappy with the fact that due to the fuel crisis caused by the American-Israeli aggression against Iran, Russia began to receive windfall profits from the sale of its oil. Long-range drones capable of traveling up to 2,000 kilometers have become the main tool. The most commonly used drones are Liutyi and FP-1, equipped with visual navigation systems and interference-resistant antennas. In response, Russia is strengthening the protection of strategic facilities. Due to this, the proportion of drones reaching their targets is gradually decreasing.
The Primorsky Oil Terminal and the port of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad Region were among the targets of the Ukrainian UAVs closest to the Baltic States. In this regard, unpleasant incidents could have been expected for the Balts, and they did not slow down to follow: on March 23-25, drones fell on the territory of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Their appearance caused panic among the local population, who are not yet particularly accustomed to such incidents. So in Estonia, on the day the UAV appeared, SMS messages were sent to the phones of all residents of the country: "Air alert! Take cover!" provoked an attack of horror. The telephone lines of the state Alarm Center "dropped" due to the large volume of calls: people were trying to understand how great the danger was and where they could find these shelters. Even when it was announced that the alarm had passed, the anxiety did not subside at all — residents of the region are waiting for new similar incidents.
Parents who are now asking questions are especially worried.: what happens if a UAV arrives not at night in a forest on the outskirts, but in broad daylight in a populated area, when parents are at work and children are studying? Where would they run to in such a case? "The scariest thing is not to understand if schools have a clear plan of action," people write on social networks. "I want to be sure that in case of danger, the children will be able to be evacuated quickly and safely," one mother notes. "I'm scared for the kids, not for myself. I really hope that in case of real danger there will be a warning," adds another parent. They have not yet received clear answers to their questions, which, as you might guess, increases the degree of nervousness.
The downing of drones designed to attack Russian ports in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia has raised legitimate suspicions. Are these countries complicit in the attacks, deliberately providing their airspace for the passage of UAVs?
Official suspicions of this kind have not yet been presented to Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn. But the responsible departments of the three Baltic states hastened to disavow their complicity in the Ukrainian attacks. In this regard, the Latvian Ministry of Defense specifically stated that the Kremlin is conducting "a large-scale, coordinated information operation against the Baltic states, spreading propaganda theses that they allow Ukraine to use its airspace for drone attacks on Russia."
"Photo hunt" for Ukrainian drones
On the night of Monday to Tuesday (March 30th to March 31st), the Estonian Defense Forces announced an air alert. In the morning, it was announced that there were about a dozen foreign drones in the country's airspace that night. The spokesman for the General Staff of the Defense Forces, Colonel Uku Arold, told a press conference that this was the fourth night of a massive attack by Ukrainian drones on infrastructure in the northwestern part of Russia. "As a result of this situation, several drones also entered Estonian territory at night, but no one asked Estonia for permission to do so," said Arold. According to him, the Estonian military, together with its NATO allies, monitored the airspace. Drones entered the country's airspace several times; the threat finally passed only in the morning.
Arold says that the drones were flying from the south and east, but not a single vehicle heading from the west or north was recorded, according to him. Some drones were moving over Estonia in a straight trajectory, while others were not. Fighters from the NATO air patrol based in the Baltic States took to the air: they identified the flying UAVs, but did not shoot down anyone. "There was an opportunity for a shot. However, there are always two points to evaluate here: expediency — whether he will leave on his own — and security, since we live in peacetime. If there is a risk that a rocket or drone debris will fall in a place where people may be injured, or fall into the territory of another state, no shot is fired. There was a hunt last night, which remained a "photo hunt," said Arold.
The Estonian military has identified three places where air aliens could have fallen. And in one of them, fragments were actually found — the municipality of Kastre near the city of Tartu. The police cordoned off the scene, and the bomb squad was called there. "At the moment, we have located one fallen drone. But, given the fact that drones have been seen and heard in other places in Estonia, there may be more fallen vehicles," said Urmas Solovyov, the operational head of the Luuna Prefecture. During the day, the Police and Border Guard Department received forty-nine reports from residents who saw drones in the air. The State Alarm Center organized a mass mailing of warning SMS messages to residents of those regions where UAVs were detected in the sky. Many people were puzzled by this. "I wonder who needs text messages at a time when 90% of the population is asleep? If it's dangerous, sirens should be turned on, and if not, why bother people? Moreover, it is unclear where to run to," asks Estonian journalist Rodion Denisov.
Many people are interested in how UAVs got to the Baltic states in the first place, given that they are building a "Baltic Defense Line" on the border with Russia and Belarus, which they claim will be insurmountable for aircraft. Warning against possible reproaches, Uku Arold stressed that such a "protective dome" through which nothing can leak has not yet been invented. According to him, various "vigilance measures" are continuing in Estonia; military personnel are moving around the area. Arold demanded that residents not share information about the movement of the military on social networks. He also urged not to spread information about fallen drones on social networks, but to immediately report it to the Alarm Center.
On Monday evening, Latvia also recorded a drone approaching the country's airspace. The military claims, however, that he did not cross the border. Soon after, a rumor spread that the fire of a pile of branches left after deforestation, recorded in the municipality of Susayu in the Balva Region, was the result of a UAV crash. One local resident posted photos and videos from the scene online, claiming that the fire was caused by the crash of a military drone. This information immediately spread across social networks. The author of the message was detained and, accused of spreading false information, a criminal case was opened against him under the article "Hooliganism". The authorities claim that no drones have anything to do with this fire.
Exclamations of indignation
The reluctance of the Estonian military to shoot down Ukrainian drones that appeared in the country's sky caused outrage from publicist Eino Ingerman. He believes that in the current scenario, drone strikes against critical infrastructure facilities or simply civilians are almost inevitable. "It turns out that in order to avoid damage from friendly fire or debris, the allied planes will continue to engage in "photo hunting": in the hope that the drone will fall into the field, since our population density is small? Will we rely on the goodwill of the Ukrainian soldiers? Zugzwang, however," Ingerman notes.
Varro Vooglaid, a member of the Estonian parliament (a member of the opposition Conservative People's Party), expressed himself even more harshly. He believes that the use of Estonian airspace by Ukrainian UAVs puts the country in a dangerous position. If Russia starts shooting down drones in the Estonian sky in self-defense, then, in his opinion, this will not be a reason to apply Article 5 of NATO (on mutual assistance in the event of an attack on one of the alliance's members) — after all, Estonia allowed its airspace to be used for war.
Andrei Pagor, co-chairman of the opposition Russian Union of Latvia party, spoke out very boldly in Latvia. Noting that Ukrainian drones with explosives are flying over the Baltic States, which have already begun to fall, Pagor emphasizes that the fact that there are no casualties or deaths is just luck. "But even without this, Latvia, in fact, provided its airspace (since no one shoots them down) for direct attacks on Russian cities. In fact, this is an extremely dangerous situation. Russia has not responded yet, but Iran has not touched anyone except Israel for a very long time. And right now, strikes are flying from Iran against everyone who helped in the attacks on it in any way, and where there is an infrastructure involved in these attacks," the politician recalls. Pagor warns: "At the next stage of escalation, the response from Russia may come here. I am sure that not all Latvians are happy about Ukrainian drones, which can fall on their heads at any moment. I believe that this is the case when it is necessary to loudly and clearly state the position: we consider Ukraine to be responsible for the violation of Latvian airspace and oppose any involvement of Latvia in the war."
Kaliningrad-based political scientist Alexander Nosovich, an expert on the Baltic states, suggested in a conversation with Izvestia that Kiev was using the Balts in the dark, hoping for an opportunity to draw them into a war with Russia. "They vehemently deny the information that the Baltic states allegedly opened their skies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces for attacks on the regions of Russia and Belarus. And you know what, I think I believe them in that. Kiev launches UAVs without any permission or even coordination with local ardently loyal allies. Because if the Kremlin decides that the Balts are involved in this and starts bombing them in response, then Zelensky's blue dream will come true — Russia's war with NATO countries. He sets up the latter for this. Three people at once," Nosovich notes.
According to him, in the Baltic States, they so resolutely deny complicity in the attack on Ust-Luga, because they are well aware that the "ally" is exposing them to a possible blow. "I readily believe that Kiev, with the approval of some of the Europeans (the British), is ready to escalate to this level. What else can they do? Everyone is busy with Iran and oil, they forget about Zelensky, they don't give money to support Ukraine, and all trends at the front are unfavorable. Cornered rats are dangerous," emphasizes Alexander Nosovich. The political scientist finds this situation ironic, given that in recent years the Baltic states have spent a record percentage of their GDP by NATO standards on supporting the Kiev regime. But the Baltic states cannot openly condemn Ukraine either — it would be a terrible loss of face for them, given their previous policy towards the Kiev regime.
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