E. Rinkevičius plans to address the public during the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrations in Aglona on August 15 – for the first time since taking office as president.
The president began his annual vacation on August 8. August 15 was supposed to be the last day of his vacation.
On Friday at about 4 a.m. local time (and Lithuanian time), an airspace threat was declared in the municipalities of Upper Daugava, Preili, Rēzekne, Balvi, and Alūksne in Latvia, which was lifted at 4:50 a.m.
At that time, NATO air defense mission fighters successfully shot down a foreign drone that had entered Latvian airspace over Balvi municipality.
Sandra Kapteine, head of the Rugāji municipality administration, said the drone was shot down near Lake Boževa, located about five kilometers from the center of Rugāji village in Balvi municipality in northeastern Latvia.
She emphasized that the drone was shot down in a forested area and that neither residents nor any property were harmed.
According to current data, the drone entered Latvian airspace due to Russian electronic warfare actions.
National Armed Forces soldiers, National Guard members, and State Police officers are participating in the inspection of the incident site.
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The drone was shot down at a high altitude, so its debris may be scattered over a large area, said Iveta Berzina, a representative of the Joint Staff of the Latvian Armed Forces.
Foreign media reported on Friday morning that a fire broke out at the Ust-Luga port in Russia’s Leningrad region during the night after a Ukrainian drone strike.
According to Leningrad region governor Alexander Drozdenko, a total of 54 drones were shot down over this region.
On Thursday evening, Ukrainian drones also attacked a warehouse belonging to the online retailer Wildberries in the Tver region.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces announced on Friday morning that in the past 24 hours they struck 29 power transmission substations in Russian-occupied territories, and from August 1 to 13 – a total of 240 substations.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that on Friday night a total of 553 Ukrainian drones were shot down over 18 Russian regions and occupied Crimea.
The Russian authorities, as usual, did not report how many drones failed to be shot down, but experts estimated that 10–15% of drones reached their targets.
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