PDB Afternoon Bulletin | August 14th, 2026: NATO Shoots Down Mystery Drone Over Latvia & Trump Threat Intel Questioned

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**Mike Baker** (0:42)
It's Friday, the 14th of August, the end of another work week. Well done, everyone. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. OK, to be fair, again today, it's a bit of an early evening bulletin.
I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, a NATO fighter shoots down an unidentified drone over Latvia as Ukraine launches one of its largest attacks inside Russia. We'll break down how the drone war is spilling across NATO borders, even as Ukraine's weakening air defenses leave its citizens increasingly exposed. Later in the show, we'll take a look at new reporting that reveals US intelligence could not verify the alleged Iranian missile plot that prompted President Trump's dramatic catering truck airplane switcheroo departure from Turkey. But first, today's afternoon spotlight.
Putin's war in Ukraine is increasingly spilling beyond the country's borders, with NATO fighter jets shooting down an unidentified drone that entered Latvian airspace during a massive Ukrainian assault on targets deep inside Russia. The incident unfolded early Friday near the village of Rugai. That's roughly 22 miles from Latvia's border with Russia. NATO says two Italian Eurofighters took off from Lithuania, while two Turkish F-16s scrambled from a base in Estonia. One of the Italian jets identified the drone and shot it down under NATO command. Latvian troops are now searching a heavily wooded area for the wreckage. Until that debris is recovered and examined, officials say they cannot confirm where the drone came from or who possibly launched it. However, the incursion occurred as Ukraine was carrying out one of its largest overnight drone attacks of the war. Russia claims its forces intercepted 553 Ukrainian drones across the country, including more than 50 around St. Petersburg. At least one drone reached Ust-Luga, that's a major Russian oil export terminal on the Baltic Sea, where the attack triggered a fire. Russian officials say the flames were quickly extinguished and no one was injured. Another drone reportedly struck up Wildberry's warehouse northwest of Moscow. As we've been tracking here on the PDB, Ukraine has targeted similar warehouses repeatedly in recent weeks, claiming that the distribution centers are being used to support Russia's war effort.
Ukraine continues to demonstrate that it can carry the war hundreds of miles beyond the front and threaten the infrastructure that Moscow relies on to fund and sustain its invasion. But the attack also demonstrates just how difficult it is to contain a drone war of this scale. Latvian officials believe Russian electronic warfare may have knocked the unidentified drone off course. Moscow uses powerful jamming systems to disrupt navigation signals and prevent Ukrainian drones from reaching their targets. But that interference can also send drones drifting into neighboring countries. And of course, this is not the first time that NATO has had to intercept a drone inside Alliance airspace. In May, a Romanian F-16 shot down a Ukrainian drone over Estonia. Then in June, a French jet destroyed another drone over Latvia. Friday's incident shows that these incursions are becoming a recurring feature of the war. As both Russia and Ukraine launch larger drone barrages, NATO pilots are increasingly being forced to make real-time decisions about unidentified aircraft crossing Alliance borders. Finland temporarily restricted aviation and maritime traffic in parts of the Eastern Gulf of Finland on Friday as a precaution. Now, the concern isn't just that a stray drone might cause damage. It's that one of these incidents could be mistaken for a deliberate attack or exploited to create one. Russia's NATO neighbors are already strengthening security around dams, power plants and natural gas infrastructure, amid fears that Moscow could stage a flag attack using a captured Ukrainian drone. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is accusing the US of being deeply involved in Ukraine's attacks, including by supplying intelligence. Lavrov says Moscow has raised the issue directly with Washington. Well, hopefully, Washington raised the issue of Moscow providing targeting intelligence to the Iranian regime with Lavrov. Regardless, the air war is expanding. Ukrainian drones are reaching deep into Russia. NATO jets are shooting down aircraft crossing Alliance borders. And Moscow is increasingly blaming the US for Ukraine's success in striking targets inside Russia.
But there's another side to this escalation. Even as Ukraine demonstrates a growing ability to strike Russia, its own ability to defend its airspace is deteriorating and Ukrainian civilians are paying the price. A Russian drone struck a home in Ukraine's Sumy region this week, killing a 29-year-old woman and her 9-year-old son. Four others were wounded. In the Donetsk region, a Russian glide bomb tore through an apartment building, destroying six floors of the building, killing one person and injuring 16