Ukrainian drones have strayed into Baltic countries' airspace in recent weeks, sowing confusion and raising tensions with Russia at a time when U.S. commitment to NATO's collective security is in question.

The airspace incursions have occurred as Ukraine, seeking to land heavier blows ‌on Russia four years after Moscow's full-scale invasion, uses exploding drones to hit Russian Baltic ports that handle nearly 40% of national oil and gas exports.

In most cases, Kyiv and the Baltic states have confirmed the stray drones are Ukrainian but have blamed Russia for causing them to deviate from their flight path with the use of electronic defenses that jam or spoof signals.

Such devices are widely ‌used by Russia and Ukraine to disrupt the navigation of enemy drones and missiles.

Russia has suggested the Baltic states are colluding ⁠to let Ukraine use their airspace to stage attacks on Russian targets. The Baltic states and Ukraine deny this.

The Baltic states in ⁠the NATO military alliance - Lithuania, Latvia ⁠and Estonia - are staunch supporters of Kyiv and accuse Russia of using escalatory language to intimidate them in the hope they will persuade Ukraine to stop its attacks.

"They're ‌desperately now using any kind of opportunity to divide the Western part of the world and ... to put more pressure on Ukraine not to launch these attacks," Estonian Foreign ⁠Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a phone........

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