Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds announced his resignation on Sunday after the incident caused by two Ukrainian drones that crossed airspace from Russia before crashing into oil facilities in Latvia.
Drones struck an oil storage site in the city of Rezekne on Thursday, causing material damage and sparking a heated debate about the effectiveness of the country's air defense systems.
A few hours before this resignation, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina demanded the departure of Colonel Raivis Melnis, arguing that anti-drone systems had not been deployed quickly enough to prevent the attack. She then appointed him the new Minister of Defense.
In response to this incident, Latvia and Lithuania called on NATO to strengthen air defenses in the Baltic states. The two countries, members of the Atlantic Alliance and neighbors of Russia, fear an increase in incidents related to the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha acknowledged on Sunday on the X network that the drones were indeed Ukrainian. According to him, they were diverted from their targets in Russia due to a "Russian electronic warfare" operation designed to disrupt their trajectory.
Kyiv has also offered to send military experts to help the Baltic states strengthen their air security and drone defense capabilities, Andrii Sybiha said on Friday.
This episode illustrates the growing risks of the Ukrainian conflict indirectly spreading to Russia's neighboring countries. Since the beginning of the war, several Eastern European states have increased their vigilance regarding airspace violations and threats posed by drones and missiles operating near their borders.
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