Latvia denies fake report of NATO shooting during military exercise

A coordinated disinformation campaign used a fake video impersonating Euronews to falsely claim that a Ukrainian soldier killed three NATO servicemen during a military exercise in Latvia. The fabricated report alleged the shooting occurred during the NATO Baltic Trust 2026 exercise in Riga, claiming the soldier then took his own life.

The video, which gained over 2 million views on X, utilized the visual style and branding of Euronews to establish false credibility. However, no such report exists on Euronews’ official platforms, and no credible news outlets have reported any such incident.

The disinformation leveraged a real event: the NATO Baltic Trust exercise, which took place in Riga from August 3 to 14 and focused on drone detection and counter-technology. The Latvian National Armed Forces issued a statement denying the shooting, stating that the exercises were proceeding without incident and identifying the video as a coordinated disinformation campaign.