Lithuania is unsure whether a drone crashed on its territory — LRT
An air raid alert was issued in several border regions of Lithuania, as well as in the capital, Vilnius, after an unidentified unmanned aerial vehicle was detected on radar.
As a result of the incident, the country’s top military and political leadership, including President Gitanas Nausėda and Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė, were urgently evacuated to secure underground shelters.
His statement is cited by LRT.
Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center (NKVC), stated that it remains unclear whether the object crashed within the country’s territory or managed to leave it.
Initial information about a potential airspace violation and danger was received by Lithuanian services from colleagues in neighboring Latvia.
Immediately thereafter, military units, using modern radar systems, detected an aerial object approaching the Lithuanian state border from Belarus at high speed.
Air defense radars initially tracked its movement in the immediate vicinity of the Ignalina area.
“Then the warning zone was expanded, as it was anticipated that the drone was heading toward Vilnius, and its trajectory was such that other areas needed to be warned as well. Residents of Vilnius received the warning around 10:00 a.m.,” Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the crisis management center, described the sequence of events in detail.
Due to the real threat of an attack, the highest “red” alert level was declared in the capital region, and operations at Vilnius International Airport were temporarily suspended.
Military command immediately activated a NATO mission to patrol the airspace over the Baltic region to intercept the target.
Officials reported that at approximately 11:09 a.m., an unidentified aircraft completely disappeared from radar screens.
“We cannot comment at this time. We are awaiting data from the military. That is the situation. Residents were warned, and we have not observed any serious concern or panic,” the head of the NKVC summarized the current state of affairs, emphasizing the difficulty of identifying the object using electronic warfare systems.
Lithuania expects U.S. troops to remain despite the review of the contingent
Lithuania will deploy robustdefensive lines along its border with Russia.
From May 18 to 29, the Finnish Navy is conducting its main spring exercise, Narrow Waters 26-1, in the Gulf of Finland and the coastal areas of Southern Finland.
Estonia has extended the nighttime closure of border crossing points with Russia for another three months. The restrictions will remain in effect at least until the end of August. Tallinn explains the decision simply: recently, the Russian side has shown “no goodwill,” so the country does not plan to ease controls.
