Overview
- Latvia’s foreign ministry, which on Thursday summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires in Riga, filed a protest after drones crossed into Rēzekne, Balvi and Ludza and triggered a brief fire at an oil storage site in Rēzekne.
- Latvia rejected Russia’s claim that Ukraine used Latvian airspace to strike St. Petersburg and said the drones entered its airspace from Russia.
- Ukraine’s foreign minister said Kyiv has apologized to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland for drones falling on their territory and that agencies are working to reduce the risk of repeats.
- Lithuania lodged a formal protest over Russia’s warnings to evacuate diplomatic missions in Kyiv, as the European Commission said it would keep its diplomatic presence in the city.
- Authorities link these incidents to the wider drone war between Russia and Ukraine, a trend that raises cross‑border safety risks for residents near the front and forces investigators to trace flight paths and improve defenses.