On the night of May 6–7, 2026, according to the press service of the Latvian National Armed Forces (Latvijas Nacionālie bruņotie spēki, NBS), several unidentified unmanned aerial vehicles violated the country’s airspace. Two of them crashed in the eastern part of the country, in the Latgale region, near the areas of Balvi, Ludza, and Rēzekne.
Extinguishing a fire in an empty oil tank belonging to SIA East-West Transit in Rēzekne / Photo: lsm.lv
According to Latvian Public Media (lsm.lv), residents of the Balvi and Ludza areas received SMS warnings of the threat at 4:09 a.m., while residents of Rēzekne received them at 4:43 a.m. The alert was canceled at 8:25 a.m.
The Latvian National Armed Forces reported at around 5:30 a.m. that two unmanned aircraft had crashed on the country’s territory, and that military units, the State Police, and the State Fire and Rescue Service had been dispatched to the incident sites.
According to residents’ reports, at around 3:30 a.m. police received a report concerning an oil storage facility on Komunāla Street in Rēzekne, where smoke was visible. Drone debris was found at the site. The chairman of the Rēzekne regional council, Guntars Skudra of the New Unity party, confirmed to the LETA news agency that one of the drones had fallen on the premises of the SIA East-West Transit branch in Rēzekne, where it struck an empty oil tank.
Deputy Chief of the State Police Andris Zellis said on Latvian television’s Morning Panorama program that the crash site of the second drone had not yet been determined.
Kristaps Koplbergs, head of the Operational Management Department of the Latvian State Fire and Rescue Service, suggested on Latvian radio that the second crashed object may be somewhere in the Viļāni area and that searches were ongoing.
Previously, on the night from Sunday to Monday, May 3–4, a potential aerial threat was announced in the Alūksne, Balvi, Ludza, Rēzekne, and Krāslava areas. Cell broadcast warnings were activated and remained in effect for about 3.5 hours. At that time, Ukraine was conducting another drone attack on Russian oil terminals.
Earlier, on March 25, the first incident occurred when a Ukrainian drone crashed in the Krāslava area. At the same time, another drone struck the chimney of a thermal power plant in Auvere, Estonia, while two days earlier a drone had crashed in Lithuania. On Sunday, March 29, a similar incident occurred in Finland, for which the Ukrainian authorities apologized.
Ukrainian Drone Attack in Russia
Meanwhile, today, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation issued a statement on a Ukrainian drone attack:
“During the past night, from 9:00 p.m. Moscow time on May 6 to 7:00 a.m. Moscow time on May 7, air defense alert systems intercepted and destroyed 347 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the territories of the Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Novgorod, Oryol, Penza, Rostov, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tambov, Tver, Tula, and Moscow regions, Krasnodar Krai, the Republic of Adygea, the Republic of Kalmykia, the Republic of Crimea, and over the waters of the Sea of Azov, the Caspian Sea, and the Black Sea.”
Although Latvia borders Pskov Region, shootdowns were reported in the neighboring Novgorod, Tver, and Kaluga regions.
❗️Latvijas gaisa telpā ielidojuši vairāki bezpilota lidaparāti. Šobrīd konstatēti 2 Latvijas teritorijā nokrituši bezpilota lidaparāti.
Gaisa spēki ir identificējuši ārvalsts bezpilota lidaparātu ielidošanu Latvijas gaisa telpā no krievijas.
Latvijas teritorijā nokrituši 2…— NBS (@Latvijas_armija) May 7, 2026
❗️Apdraudējums Latvijas gaisa telpā noslēdzies
Nacionālie bruņotie spēki informē, ka iespējamais apdraudējums Latvijas gaisa telpā ir beidzies.
Nacionālie bruņotie spēki kopā ar NATO sabiedrotajiem pastāvīgi monitorē gaisa telpu, lai nodrošinātu spēju nekavējoši reaģēt uz…
— NBS (@Latvijas_armija) May 7, 2026
🇱🇻 Visi atbildīgie dienesti strādā ciešā koordinācijā Rēzeknē, Ludzas un Balvu novados.
Esmu saziņā ar valsts augstākajām amatpersonām, Nacionālajiem bruņotajiem spēkiem un novadu pašvaldību vadītājiem.
Pašreiz Rēzeknē un tuvākajā laikā plānoju apmeklēt arī Ludzu un Balvus, lai…
— Andris Spruds (@AndrisSpruds) May 7, 2026