Ukraine has every right to carry out strikes on Russian territory, the Latvian foreign minister, whose country has been accused by Moscow of allegedly authorising Ukraine to launch drones from Latvian territory, said while arriving at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden.
“We do not grant our airspace to Ukrainian drones. But at the same time, Ukraine has acquired technology and capabilities to strike targets on Russian territory at a long distance. That is why Russia is trying to shift the blame to someone else-the Baltic States, Finland, Poland, or someone else. No, Russia must stop its war, and then there will be no attacks,” said Baiba Brazhe, Radio Liberty correspondent reports.
Topdiplomat also emphasised that Ukrainian drones on the Baltic territory are the result of Russian electronic warfare means that knock the drones off course. She emphasised that NATO’s eastern flank must be able to respond to this type of threat.
“There have been very few drones of this kind and we should be able to deal with it. This is not a critical situation. We just need to work on our preparedness, thinking and capabilities,” Brazhe said.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also called Russia’s claims that Ukraine was allegedly using Baltic territory for drone attacks against Russia as fake.
“This is not true, because we do not allow this. At the same time, I want to assure that Ukraine has every right to strike targets deep in Russian territory… Of course, we need to be more careful, but all responsibility in this matter lies with Russia, because Putin can stop this war even tomorrow,” the Estonian foreign minister emphasised.
Tsahkna said that Russia is trying to force Ukraine to stop strikes on Russia’s “vital artery” for oil exports.
“About 60 per cent of Russia’s gas and oil exports pass through the Baltic Sea… And Ukraine is hitting this direction very hard. That’s why, as I see it, Putin is trying to split Western unity and get us all to put more pressure on Ukraine to stop these deep strikes on Russian territory. But the right way is to increase pressure on Russia,” the Estonian foreign minister warned.
The Lithuanian foreign minister, where an air alert was declared twice this week because of drones, in turn called for strengthening air defences.
“We cannot continue to live with gaps in our airspace… We must implement the eastern flank surveillance initiative more quickly, as well as introduce new mechanisms to strengthen resilience on the eastern front line,” Kęstutis Budrys emphasised.
Earlier, Moscow made accusations against the Baltic states for allegedly allowing Ukrainian drones to fly over their territory to strike targets in Russia. Ukraine and its Western partners denied these statements by Moscow.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry apologised to the Baltic states over “unintentional incidents” with drones.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte noted in his commentary that the drones end up in the Baltics “not because Ukraine wanted to send them there.” “They are there because of Russia’s reckless, illegal full-scale attack, which started in 2022,” Rutte emphasised.
After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, various targets on Russian territory are subjected to air strikes. The most frequent targets in 2024 and 2025 were oil refineries (refineries). Russian facilities in the occupied territories of Ukraine have also been targeted.
The AFU General Staff confirmed most of the attacks, stating that the Ukrainian Defence Forces were “systematically implementing measures aimed at reducing the combat potential of the Russian occupation forces and forcing Russia to stop its armed aggression against Ukraine”.