A crashed drone carrying around five kilograms of explosives has been discovered in south-eastern Estonia, authorities said on Monday.
The unmanned aerial vehicle is believed to have entered the airspace of the EU and NATO member state in early June.
It was found by a local resident while mowing tall grass in a field in the Rõuge municipality, close to the borders with Latvia and Russia.
Additional debris was located in a nearby tree, from which the drone is believed to have fallen, Harrys Puusepp, head of the Estonian Security Police, told Estonian broadcaster ERR.
Puusepp said the drone likely went down on June 3 during a Ukrainian attack on targets in Russia. At the time, Estonian air defence radar systems detected multiple aerial objects, prompting NATO fighter jets to be scrambled.
Shortly afterwards, however, the drone’s signal disappeared near the location where the wreckage was later found.
According to Puusepp, the discovery was reported on June 10, after which investigators examined the site. The area was cordoned off, and officials said there was no danger to the public.
He added that the delay in reporting the incident was due to a large-scale military exercise taking place at the time.
Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia’s full-scale invasion for more than four years with Western support.
In recent weeks, Ukrainian forces have repeatedly struck targets in north-western Russia near the Estonian border. During such operations, some drones have reportedly strayed into Estonian airspace and crashed.
Following attacks on Russian port and military infrastructure, Moscow has repeatedly accused Estonia - as well as Latvia and Lithuania - of allowing their airspace to be used for Ukrainian operations.
The governments in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius have firmly rejected the allegations as unfounded disinformation.
