Published: June 23, 2026 1:53 pm
Author: RT
The UAV apparently fell in Estonia as Kiev was launching a series of long-range strikes on Russia, a senior official has said
A person mowing the lawn in the Estonian countryside stumbled on what was likely a Ukrainian drone packed with 5 kg of explosives earlier this month, a local official has revealed. The UAV apparently went down during a Ukrainian raid on Russia on June 3, despite officials’ earlier assurances that no unauthorized aircraft entered the country’s airspace at the time.
Harrys Puusepp, bureau chief at Estonia’s Internal Security Service, confirmed on Monday that the drone crashed in a field in Rouge municipality, around 40 km from the Russian border. The discovery was reported to authorities on the evening of June 10 but was not made public until June 22 due to an ongoing major exercise, he added.
“The person discovered a drone in taller grass while mowing. Some parts of the drone were also found in a tree, so it had apparently fallen from there,” he said, adding that shortly after the incident, “the danger area was secured, and no bystanders were put at risk.”
🇺🇦🎮⚔️🇪🇪 An Estonian man discovered a fallen Ukrainian drone while mowing the grass.
The discovery was made in the Rõuge municipality back on June 10, but news of it has only just emerged.
According to Harris Puusepp, a bureau chief at the Estonian Internal Security Service… pic.twitter.com/DGJ5eLFt7o
— dana (@dana916) June 22, 2026
Puusepp said the drone may have been among those reported during alerts on June 3 during a Ukrainian raid on Russia, with Kiev previously targeting oil infrastructure on the Baltic Sea coast. At the time, the Estonian military scrambled jets and sent warning notifications to residents, but said “no air threat was detected.”
Despite the assurance, several people living in Voru county, where a suspected Ukrainian drone was later found, told ERR they had heard a noise that may have been related to a UAV.
READ MORE: Drone-watching: How Ukraine keeps hitting its EU backers
The incident appears to be the latest in a string of Ukrainian drones drifting into NATO airspace during Kiev’s long-range strikes on Russia. Despite numerous Ukrainian UAVs crashing in several EU countries, most governments have declined to formally condemn Kiev – instead blaming the incidents on Russia and its electronic warfare defenses.
Ukraine has often apologized for the incidents but has given no indication that it plans to scale back its drone campaign.
In an incident on May 19, a Romanian F-16 shot down a suspected Ukrainian UAV near Lake Vortsjarv, with wreckage landing close to the village of Kablakula in southern Estonia.
