Two Drones from Russia Crash in Eastern Latvia

Two unidentified drones entered Latvian airspace from Russia and crashed early Thursday morning, prompting airspace alerts, school closures, and the scrambling of NATO fighter jets over the Baltic nation.

The incidents occurred around 4 a.m. local time in eastern Latvia's Latgale region, near the Russian border. Latvian authorities issued mobile phone alerts at 4:09 a.m. and 4:43 a.m. to residents in the Rēzekne, Ludza and Balvi districts, urging them to remain indoors. All schools in Rēzekne closed for the day, while those in Ludza followed suit and Balvi students shifted to remote learning, according to local officials.

One drone crashed at a storage facility in Rēzekne, about 40 kilometers from the border, damaging four empty oil tanks, police and firefighters reported. Firefighters extinguished a smoldering area of roughly 30 square meters in one tank, with debris consistent with a drone recovered at the site. The Latvian army confirmed two drones had crossed from Russian territory.

NATO jets from the multinational Baltic Air Policing mission were summoned to the area, Latvian Defence Minister Andris Spruds told national broadcaster LSM. Spruds, who traveled to Rēzekne to...