Latvia's Defense Minister Resigns After Ukrainian Drone Incident

Latvian Defense Minister Andris Sprūds has stepped down after a Ukrainian drone breached the country's airspace and crashed on May 7, according to the state broadcaster LSM. The resignation was announced during a press conference where Sprūds stated, "I made the decision to step down as defense minister to protect the Latvian military from being drawn into a political campaign."

The incident occurred on May 7 when an unmanned aerial vehicle fell near an oil terminal in the eastern city of Rēzekne, damaging four storage tanks. Preliminary data, as reported by Sprūds, suggests the drone was "guided from the Ukrainian side towards Russia" and may have violated Latvian airspace.

Russia's Defense Ministry had previously reported detecting a group of six drones in Latvian airspace as Ukrainian forces attempted to target civilian infrastructure in the St. Petersburg region.