Overview
- Sprūds, who resigned Sunday, stepped down after two Ukrainian-origin drones crossed from Russia and one exploded at an oil depot in eastern Latvia.
- Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said defense leaders failed to detect the drones and send phone alerts in time, with warnings going out about an hour after the crash.
- Colonel Raivis Melnis, Latvia’s defense ministry representative in Ukraine, was named as the proposed replacement for Sprūds.
- Ukraine said investigations found Russian jamming diverted its drones off course and offered to send experts to the Baltics, while Estonia urged Kyiv to keep tighter control of its systems.
- Latvia and Lithuania pressed NATO to bolster regional air defenses, as similar stray drones have reached Estonia and Finland in recent months and election pressures in Latvia grow ahead of October.