Baltic nations seek EU support to combat drones, Lithuania says

VILNIUS, Sept ‌23 (Reuters) - Lithuania, ​Latvia ​and Estonia have jointly asked the European ‌Commission for additional financial support from ⁠the EU for drone fighting ‌capabilities, Lithuania's Defence Minister ‌Robertas Kaunas said in a statement to Reuters on Wednesday.

With ​Ukraine stepping up long-range drone attacks on Russia, some ⁠of the drones have entered airspace in the ​Baltic region, stoking concerns that the war between Moscow and Kyiv is spilling ​over NATO's borders.

Kaunas ‌did not say how much money the countries ⁠had asked for.

Finnish daily Iltalehti reported that the three Baltic ⁠nations had asked for €500 million ($569.45 million).

"We are ​looking into procuring the capabilities jointly, with preference for the European defence ‌industry. This strengthens both our resilience and the ‌industry cooperation in Europe", Kaunas ⁠said.

($1 = 0.8780 ‌euros)

(Reporting by ​Andrius Sytas, writing by Louise Rasmussen, editing by Terje ‌Solsvik)

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