Baltic nations seek EU support to combat drones, Lithuania says

‌Lithuania, Latvia ​and Estonia have jointly asked the European Commission ‌for additional financial support from the EU for drone fighting capabilities, Lithuania's Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said in ‌a statement to Reuters on Wednesday.

With ‌Ukraine stepping up long-range drone attacks on Russia, some of the drones have entered airspace in the ⁠Baltic region, ​stoking concerns ⁠that the war between Moscow and Kyiv is spilling ⁠over NATO's borders. Kaunas did not say how ​much money the countries had asked for.

Finnish daily ⁠Iltalehti reported that the three Baltic nations had asked ⁠for €500 ​million ($569.45 million). "We are looking into procuring the capabilities jointly, with preference for the ⁠European defence industry. This strengthens both our resilience and ⁠the ⁠industry cooperation in Europe", Kaunas said.

($1 = 0.8780 euros)