In recent months, stray Russian and Ukrainian drones have been shot down or have ended up on European territory, triggering reactions and political turbulence both within the affected countries and at EU level. This comes as the European Union, which has backed Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion, has meanwhile provided more than €200 billion in financial assistance.
On May 7, a Ukrainian military unmanned surface vessel was spotted by fishermen near Cape Lefkatas on the Greek island of Lefkada. The vessel was loaded with a large quantity of explosives and, by sheer luck, did not detonate.
Four weeks later, and following a diplomatic démarche by the Greek Foreign Ministry, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry apologized to Greece, attributing the incident to the conditions created by Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine.
On May 7, two stray Ukrainian drones entered Latvia from Russian airspace and struck oil storage facilities.
The incident caused panic in the country, exposed shortcomings in Latvia’s military preparedness, and led to the resignation of Defence Minister Andris Sprūds and subsequently Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, resulting in the collapse of her governing coalition.
On June 8, NATO fighter jets shot down another drone that violated Latvian airspace, again arriving from Russia.
On May 29, a Russian drone struck an apartment building in the city of Galați, near Romania’s border with Ukraine, causing an explosion, a fire and injuries to two people.
According to Romania’s Ministry of Defence, since the start of the war in Ukraine, debris from Russian drones has been found on Romanian territory at least 47 times, including 12 incidents in 2026 alone.
On June 5, a Ukrainian naval drone exploded in the port of Constanța, Romania, without causing injuries or significant material damage.
Kyiv confirmed that the drone was Ukrainian, stressing that it had gone off course due to Russian electronic interference.
Ukraine, along with the countries where Ukrainian drones have been found, has adopted the explanation that Russian interference affected the drones’ GPS systems through jamming or spoofing.
Jamming disables the GPS system by blocking the signal, while spoofing feeds the device false coordinates in order to deceive it.
NATO member states (all of the countries mentioned above are members) have the right to request the activation of:
