Two drones enter Latvian airspace, one crashes by oil depot perimeter PHOTO

Two unmanned aerial vehicles entered Latvian airspace from the direction of Russia and crashed in Latvia on the morning of May 7.

One of the drones crashed near an oil storage facility in the city of Rēzekne, while the second has not yet been located, Latvian public broadcaster LSM reports.

Airspace threat alerts were issued early in the morning in the Balvi, Ludza, and Rēzekne regions. As of 07:00 (09:00 in Baku), the warning remained in effect.

Police said one drone fell on a street where an oil depot is located in Rēzekne, around 40 kilometres from the Russian border. Emergency services inspected the storage tanks using thermal imaging and found no signs of fire or fuel leakage.

Emergency crews are working at the site, with firefighters inspecting the area and police cordoning off the crash zone. The location of the second drone remains unknown.

Latvian Defence Minister Andris Sprūds said he was heading to the Rēzekne region, adding that the situation remains tense and the threat is still active.

He noted that the country’s airspace is being monitored by the National Armed Forces together with NATO allies, with fighter jets deployed in the skies.

Sprūds also suggested that the drones could have been Ukrainian UAVs targeting objects in Russia, but stressed that this hypothesis has not been confirmed and requires investigation.

Due to the incident, classes in all educational institutions were cancelled in several regions, including the Ludza region.

By Jeyhun Aghazada