Russian warship fires flares at Danish helicopter as Nato jets shoot down drone over Lithuania

Ursula von der Leyen says incidents part of a broader pattern of Russian aggression and provocation against Europe'

A Russian warship fired two emergency flares at a Danish helicopter in the Baltic Sea and an Italian Nato fighter jet shot down a drone carrying an explosive device over Lithuania in what the EU described as reckless and dangerous" Russian behaviour.

Poland also scrambled fighter jets due to the activity of Russian jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles conducting strikes on Ukrainian territory", the day after Polish security forces retrieved a suspected Russian drone adrift in its waters.