Why Latvia's prime minister resigned over drone incursions
A look back at 14 May 2026, when Evika Siliņa stepped down, as Russia reshuffled border governors and the war's cross-border strikes continued.
What brought down a Latvian government on 14 May 2026? The answer lay in drones from Ukraine's long-range campaign against Russian targets that strayed into Latvian airspace.
On that date, Latvian prime minister Evika Siliņa resigned, one day after losing her majority in the Saeima. The loss of support came over the handling of Ukrainian drone incursions into Latvia's airspace.
The incursions behind the crisis
As later described, several Ukrainian or suspected Ukrainian military drones entered the airspace of NATO members in the Baltic region, including the Baltic states and Finland, in March and May 2026. They crossed from Russia during Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russian targets in the Baltic Sea region. The incidents took place during a wider Ukrainian campaign against Russian oil export infrastructure, including repeated strikes on the ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk.
The wider war in the days around it
The resignation came amid other developments in the Russo-Ukrainian war. On 12 May 2026, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the military had attacked several gas facilities in Orenburg Oblast, Russia. On the same day, Russian president Vladimir Putin said Russia would deploy new Sarmat nuclear missiles this year.
On 13 May 2026, Putin replaced the governors of the border regions of Belgorod and Bryansk Oblast. Vyacheslav Gladkov in Belgorod gave way to army general Alexander Shuvaev, and Alexander Bogomaz in Bryansk to Yegor Kovalchuk, a former occupation official. The changes came amid continuing cross-border attacks.
Taken together, the events of those days showed how the war's reach extended beyond Ukraine and Russia: strikes launched in one country shaped political arithmetic in a NATO and EU neighbour, ending with the departure of Latvia's head of government on 14 May 2026.
