Romanian fighter jets shot down a drone near Põltsamaa Tuesday after it entered Estonian airspace without authorization.

The jets were scrambled from Lithuania's Šiauliai Air Base, where the Romanian Air Force is currently serving a rotation on NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission.

Col. Ants Kiviselg, director of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) Military Intelligence Center, said long-range drones are now widely being used in warfare and their production and deployment continue to ramp up.

"It's clear the air defense challenges in countries bordering the warring states will only keep growing," he said.

Kiviselg also warned of a Russian disinformation campaign targeting the Baltic countries and Finland in connection with drone incidents.

"Russia is accusing the Baltic states and Finland of opening their airspace to Ukrainian drones and accommodating Ukrainian drone teams which then carry out attacks on targets in Russia from there," he said, dismissing the claim as baseless.

'Russians are starting to feel the effects'

According to the intelligence chief, Ukraine continues to strike strategic and military Russian targets, and those attacks are increasingly shaping public opinion within Russia.

Polls from early May showed 18 percent of respondents considered Ukrainian long-range strikes the most significant event of the week, surpassing even the 16 percent citing battlefield developments. In April, only 5–6 percent highlighted the air strikes.

"The Russian population is increasingly starting to feel the physical realities of the war, including the risks, damage, destruction and other discomfort that come with it," Kiviselg said.

On the battlefield, the past week saw the highest level of combat activity yet this year, with an average of 245 daily engagements. Russian forces are reportedly losing about 1,100 troops per day, with losses exceeding recruitment levels.

Kiviselg added that Russia has made only marginal territorial gains this month, while Ukraine regained more ground than it lost over the past week.

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