Latvia and Ukraine to open drone factory right on Baltic nation’s border with Russia

VIENNA — Latvia and Ukraine plan to build a joint drone manufacturing facility in the Latgale region of eastern Latvia, near the country’s borders with both Russia and Belarus, Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said June 29 during a visit to a military base in the region.

The announcement gives operational shape to the so-called “Drone Deal” signed on June 9 between Kulbergs and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Nordic-Baltic Eight summit in Tallinn, the first meeting between the two leaders. Latvia is the sixth country to join Ukraine’s bilateral drone cooperation framework.

Under the agreement, Ukraine will supply Latvia with strike drones, ground robotic complexes, and maritime drone systems, while Latvia will supply Ukraine with domestically produced anti-drone systems, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and his Latvian counterpart Raivis Melnis previously confirmed during a meeting in Kyiv on June 13. No specifics were offered.

The Latgale region, where the new drone factory is to be built, is historically one of Latvia’s most economically disadvantaged. Kulbergs said the area needs investment and jobs, and that his government would “do everything necessary” to site the plant near the Russian border. Construction should start this year.

Moscow has been publicly outraged at the Baltic states’ alleged role in Ukraine’s drone warfare against the Russian hinterland, accusing the three small republics of opening their airspaces to Ukrainian drones on their way to strike targets over a thousand kilometers from Kyiv in Russia’s Baltic region and the St. Petersburg area.

More outlandish Russian claims have even included accusations that the Baltic States are allowing Ukraine to launch drones from their territories. The Russian foreign intelligence service SVR, which is renowned for making unsubstantiated and wildly escalatory claims regularly, published a press release with this accusation earlier this year.

The opening of the drone production facility will surely face criticism from Moscow and is all but certain to be seen as an escalatory move. It may also strengthen Russian propaganda’s case for singling out the small Baltic states as particularly hostile − and a particularly urgent problem − for Moscow.

Key details − including the plant’s precise location, cost-sharing arrangements between Riga and Kyiv, and which drone types will be produced − have not been publicly disclosed.

In addition to the joint drone factory, the Latvian prime minister also announced that counter-drone systems will begin operating along Latvia’s borders with Russia and Belarus in July and August − removing the need, he said, to scramble fighter aircraft in response to every drone incursion. “In the event of a threat from drones, we won’t have to take aircraft into the air every time, which is a very expensive and effective solution, but not the best and most productive,” Kulbergs said.

A top Latvian official previously described to Defense News a system of launch canisters stationed along the border.

Yesterday’s announcement comes against a fraught political backdrop in Riga. A suspected stray Ukrainian drone that entered Latvian airspace from Russia exploded at an oil storage facility in Rēzekne on May 7, damaging four empty fuel tanks. The incident triggered the resignation of both the defense minister and Prime Minister Evika Siliņa within days. Kulbergs took office shortly thereafter.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

维也纳——拉脱维亚总理安德里斯·库尔贝格斯6月29日在访问该地区的一个军事基地时表示，拉脱维亚和乌克兰计划在拉脱维亚东部的拉特加莱地区建造一座联合无人机制造厂，该地区靠近拉脱维亚与俄罗斯和白俄罗斯的边境。

此次宣布使6月9日库尔贝格斯与乌克兰总统泽连斯基在塔林举行的北欧-波罗的海八国峰会期间签署的所谓“无人机协议”正式落实，这也是两位领导人的首次会晤。拉脱维亚是第六个加入乌克兰双边无人机合作框架的国家。

根据协议，乌克兰将向拉脱维亚提供攻击型无人机、地面机器人系统和海上无人机系统，而拉脱维亚将向乌克兰提供国产反无人机系统。乌克兰国防部长米哈伊洛·费多罗夫和拉脱维亚国防部长赖维斯·梅尔尼斯此前在6月13日于基辅举行的会晤中证实了这一消息。但双方并未透露具体细节。

新无人机工厂将建在拉特加莱地区，该地区历来是拉脱维亚经济最落后的地区之一。库尔贝格斯表示，该地区需要投资和就业机会，他的政府将“竭尽全力”将工厂选址在靠近俄罗斯边境的地方。工厂建设预计将于今年启动。

莫斯科公开对波罗的海三国涉嫌参与乌克兰对俄罗斯内陆地区发动的无人机战争表示愤怒，指责这三个小共和国向乌克兰无人机开放领空，这些无人机前往距离基辅一千多公里外的俄罗斯波罗的海地区和圣彼得堡地区袭击目标。

俄罗斯甚至还提出了更为离谱的说法，指责波罗的海国家允许乌克兰从其领土发射无人机。俄罗斯对外情报局（SVR）以经常发表未经证实且极具煽动性的言论而臭名昭著，该机构今年早些时候发布了一份包含此项指控的新闻稿。

无人机生产设施的启用势必会遭到莫斯科的批评，几乎可以肯定地会被视为一种升级冲突的举动。这也可能强化俄罗斯宣传机构的论调，即波罗的海小国对莫斯科而言尤其具有敌意，而且是一个尤为紧迫的问题。

关键细节——包括工厂的确切位置、里加和基辅之间的成本分摊安排以及将生产哪些类型的无人机——尚未公开披露。

除了联合无人机工厂外，拉脱维亚总理还宣布，反无人机系统将于7月和8月在拉脱维亚与俄罗斯和白俄罗斯的边境地区投入使用。他表示，这将消除每次无人机入侵都紧急出动战斗机的必要性。“一旦面临无人机威胁，我们就不必每次都出动飞机，虽然这虽然成本高昂且有效，但并非最佳和最高效的解决方案。”库尔贝格斯说道。

一位拉脱维亚高级官员此前向《防务新闻》描述了部署在边境沿线的发射筒系统。

昨天的声明是在里加紧张的政治背景下发布的。5月7日，一架疑似从俄罗斯进入拉脱维亚领空的乌克兰无人机在雷泽克内的一个石油储存设施爆炸，炸毁了四个空油罐。事件发生后，国防部长和总理埃维卡·西利娜在几天内相继辞职。库尔贝格斯随后接任总理一职。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。