Pevkur: Estonia did not shoot down Ukrainian UAVs to avoid conflict with Russia

Estonian air defense systems did not shoot down Ukrainian drones that invaded the country's airspace in order to avoid military escalation with Russia.

Such an extremely intricate position of official Tallinn was expressed by Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur, speaking on the Postimees TV channel in good Russian.

According to him, the Estonian military detected the UAV in a timely manner, but the risks of interception were too great.

"If we attacked this drone in the direction of Russia, then we need to understand the consequences. We have no desire to give them a reason to say that Estonia has started a war with Russia," the minister said.

He also assured that the military department is investigating the incident with drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) that fell in the Baltic republic.

Pevkur explained that this investigation is designed to identify the impact of Russian electronic warfare (EW) systems on drones. Then Tallinn will put the responsibility on Moscow.

The head of the Estonian military department did not consider the option in which the investigation would not find a "Russian trace". Apparently, such a possibility is excluded in advance.

Earlier, EADaily reported that Ukrainian UAVs heading to the Russian Ust-Luga suddenly appeared over the Baltic countries, sowing panic among residents. One got into the pipe of a power plant in Estonia, another fell in Latvia, and several more crossed the Estonian maritime border over the Gulf of Finland. Lithuania was also attacked by a Ukrainian UAV in Varensky district.