Latvia airspace alert follows drone strikes in Chernivtsi and Ukraine's attack on a Rostov plant

A brief alert on the Latvian border

Latvia's armed forces reported a short violation of national airspace on Sunday, 1 November, near the borders with Belarus and Russia. Residents in the area were asked to stay indoors for their own safety while the incident lasted. In a post on X, the army warned of a potential threat and told people not to approach any low-flying or suspicious object. About 30 minutes later it said the unidentified object had left Latvian airspace and the alert had ended.

Drones straying into NATO airspace

The Latvian alert came a day after a similar incident in Romania, where six counties in the north-east, Iași, Neamț, Vaslui, Botoșani, Bacău and Suceava, were placed under an air alert on Saturday, 31 October after two drones entered national airspace. Reports describe Ukrainian military drones entering the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on several occasions. Ukraine is attacking Russian oil-shipping ports on the Baltic Sea, and some of its drones missed their targets, prompting security alerts in neighbouring countries. Reports link the Latvian case to the fall of the Latvian government earlier this year. Moscow accused Kyiv of using NATO airspace as cover for attacks, while Kyiv says Russian signal jamming pushed some of its drones off course. NATO countries generally blame Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Strike on the Kamenski plant

Zelensky said Ukrainian long-range strikes hit the Kamenski plant in Rostov region, a Russian defence factory involved in missile production. The Ukrainian General Staff had announced the attack a day earlier, saying drones and Neptune cruise missiles were used. The plant sits about 15 kilometres from the Ukrainian border and produces solid fuel for a wide range of missiles, projectiles and weapons for Russian military aircraft. It is on sanctions lists maintained by the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. Zelensky said a Pantsir-S2 system and a command-and-control vehicle for the S-400 Triumf were also hit, with estimated damage of about $70 million.

Drone strike in Chernivtsi

Russian drones attacked Chernivtsi, a Ukrainian city near the Romanian border, on Sunday. Ruslan Osipenko, who heads the regional military administration, said on Facebook that two drones hit a civil administrative building and that a 67-year-old man was wounded by shrapnel. The man received first aid and was taken to hospital. A falling drone started a fire in the area, and emergency crews responded. The city's airport and its heating plant are located near the impact site. A third drone was reportedly shot down near the city, with no damage or casualties recorded there. Several localities near Lviv were also struck by drones that morning, damaging residential buildings, vehicles and a warehouse.

Revised casualty count

An earlier attack on 26 October had damaged an energy facility in the Chernivtsi region, causing power outages, according to the public broadcaster Suspilne Chernivtsi. On Sunday, Mayor Roman Kliciuk first said fragments of a downed enemy drone had fallen in the city and that two people had light injuries. He later said preliminary information showed one administrative building was damaged and that the fire had been contained quickly. He then corrected the toll, saying only one person had been injured.