A local resident discovered the device while mowing grass in a field in Rõuge Parish in southern Estonia.
Information about the discovery was received on the evening of June 10, Harri Puusepp, head of a department at Estonia’s Internal Security Service, said.
“The person found the drone in the grass while mowing. Some parts of the drone were also found in a tree, so it had evidently fallen there,” Puusepp said.
The drone may have been one of those reported during an alert on June 3, he said.
“In this case, it was likely one of the drones detected by Air Force radar. Fighter jets were deployed at the time, but there was no confirmation. The radar signal disappeared near the location where the wreckage has now been found, so it was likely one of the drones detected on June 3,” Puusepp said.
Ukrainian strike drones were flying toward targets in Russia near St. Petersburg that day.
The drone carried a warhead weighing about 5 kilograms, Puusepp said. Authorities did not report the incident earlier because the large-scale Spring Storm military exercise was taking place at the time and required significant resources, he added.
A drone believed to have been heading toward targets in Russia was shot down by a Romanian fighter jet in Estonia on May 19. It was the first time the country had independently destroyed a drone in its airspace.
Kyiv later said the drone was Ukrainian and may have been redirected toward Estonia by Russia through electronic warfare. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry apologized to Estonia over the incident.