Romanian jet shoots down suspected Ukrainian drone over Estonia

Key points

• A Romanian F-16 jet belonging to The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) air policing forces in the Baltics on Tuesday (May 19, 2026) shot down what is believed to have been a Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia, authorities said.
• Given the trajectory of the drone, “we decided that we need to take it down,” Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said.
• “Most probably, today we can say that it was (a) drone which was, let’s say, meant to hit some Russian targets,” he told The Associated Press.
• It was the latest in a string of incidents in recent months in which Ukrainian drones aimed at Russia have crossed or come down in NATO territory.
• Those incidents have come as Kyiv has steadily ramped up its drone raids, focusing on Russian energy facilities and arms factories.