The growing concern over stray drone strikes in Europe

Description

Drones have become a part of everyday life for many Ukrainians. Now, they’re showing up in the airspace of Baltic countries. On Wednesday, people in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, were instructed to take shelter when drone activity was detected near the border with Belarus. The day before, a NATO jet shot down a Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia. This followed an incident earlier this month when two drones hit an empty oil facility in Latvia. It’s still not clear exactly how these drones are ending up in Baltic airspace, but some analysts believe the drones could be autonomously choosing their targets – a potential first in warfare. Mark MacKinnon is the Globe’s senior international correspondent. He’s here to explain what we know so far about how these drones are ending up in NATO countries, and what the implications are for the next phase of the Russia-Ukraine war. Subscribe to The Globe and Mail's Morning Update to get stories directly in your inbox: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/newsletters/subscribe-morning-update/