NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Alexus Grynkewich said that the Baltic states allegedly do not allow Ukrainian drones to use their airspace to fly toward Russia. As proof, he pointed to the recent incident in which a Ukrainian Armed Forces drone was shot down over Estonia.

At a press conference in Brussels, Grynkewich said that, in his view, this is exactly how the alliance’s defense system is supposed to work. He noted that authority has been delegated to the lowest tactical level so that NATO forces can respond quickly to such violations and protect the bloc’s territory.

According to the commander, NATO controls every meter of the alliance’s territory when an intrusion into its airspace occurs. He also said he was satisfied with the coordination between air defense assets deployed in the Baltics and air policing forces.

Grynkewich stressed that if NATO were actually allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through the airspace of the Baltic states for strikes on Russia, such aircraft would not be shot down. In this way, he tried to present the destruction of the Ukrainian UAV over Estonia as proof that the Baltic air corridor is allegedly not being used by Kiev for attacks on Russian territory.