Latvia is deploying specialist armed drone-interceptor teams along its border with Russia and Belarus, the Baltic nation’s army confirmed Wednesday, as Ukrainian unmanned aircraft continue to stray into NATO-member territory — raising alarm across the alliance about accidental escalation.

The announcement came from Modris Kairiss, head of the Latvian Army’s Autonomous Systems Competence Centre, speaking at a Drone Summit in Latvia. “We plan to deploy interceptor teams over the next two weeks,” Kairiss told Reuters. Each team will consist of up to four soldiers in a rugged terrain vehicle, operating killer drones capable of destroying incoming military drones within a 10-kilometre radius.

The move escalates Latvia’s border posture at a moment when Alliance members are on edge: Ukrainian drones have crashed in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia repeatedly since March, according to Nato officials, in incidents caused — Kyiv says — by Russian GPS-jamming that throws the aircraft off course. One drone exploded at an oil storage facility in Rezekne, eastern Latvia, on May 7, causing fire damage but no casualties.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s military has acknowledged the problem openly. Kyiv says Russian electronic warfare is actively forcing Ukrainian drones off their missions and into Nato-member territory — a charge Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied. The incidents have forced Nato to scramble jets from airbases in Estonia and Poland on multiple occasions this spring.

“If we put interceptor teams on every kilometre of the border, we will quickly burn all army resources,” Kairiss said, underscoring the strain on a small nation’s forces. The exact number of teams patrolling the 400-kilometre Latvian border with Russia and Belarus remains classified.

Britain and Poland signed a parallel defence agreement in London on Wednesday, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer sought to deepen European security architecture in the wake of the Ukraine war. The treaty — covering border security, organised crime and defence cooperation — marks Britain’s latest effort to rebuild defence ties with EU members since Brexit. It follows similar agreements with France and Germany concluded earlier this year.

Separately, a Czech-led ammunition-purchasing initiative that has provided up to half of Ukraine’s large-calibre artillery shells has seen participating countries fall from eighteen to nine since the government of Andrej Babis, who campaigned on an anti-Ukraine platform, took office in Prague last December. Czech President Petr Pavel said the initiative remained operational but needed renewed political support to sustain deliveries to the front line.

The Latvia deployment marks one of the most concrete operational responses yet by a Nato member to the wave of errant drones crossing the Alliance’s eastern border. The Kremlin has yet to respond publicly to the announcement.

This is a developing story. Media Hook Breaking News will update as new information becomes available.