NATO fighter pilots have shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace overnight, according to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.
Authorities said the drone likely entered southern Lithuania, near the country’s second-largest city, Kaunas, from neighbouring Belarus shortly after midnight on Tuesday.
Nausėda wrote in a statement on X: “A drone that just entered Lithuanian airspace was destroyed by NATO fighter jets.”
The origin of the drone has not yet been established, a spokesperson for Lithuania’s national crisis management centre said.
Drone alerts were issued across Vilnius and the surrounding region early Tuesday.
Shortly after midnight local time (21:00 GMT), residents in the region received alerts on their phones warning of a possible drone incursion and instructing them to “find a safe place” and “wait for the all clear”.
Lithuania’s Ministry of Defence said the country’s armed forces and Italian pilots serving in the NATO Air Defence Mission “showed a swift and responsible response” to the incursion.
In another post on social media, Nausėda said: “With Russia intensifying its aggression against Ukraine, such readiness is vital for our region. Together with our NATO Allies, Lithuania will defend its airspace.”
Moscow has not commented on the incident.
Lithuania shares a significant portion of its southern and eastern border with Belarus, a key Russian ally.
Drone sightings were also reported in Lithuania on Sunday. The crisis management centre later said an object had “likely” entered from Belarus and travelled across the country before entering Russian airspace. The 13 September incident did not trigger air threat alerts.
Military drone incursions have become increasingly common across Europe since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Poland also said there had been “aviation operations” in its airspace on Monday night “due to the activity of Russian Federation’s jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles conducting strikes on Ukrainian territory”.
It said these actions were of a “preventive nature” and were intended to “securing airspace and its protection, especially in areas adjacent to threatened regions”.
Residents in Lithuania’s capital were forced to seek shelter across Vilnius in May after a drone alert was issued, briefly disrupting flights and rail travel.
NATO jets have scrambled multiple times this year to shoot down stray Ukrainian drones that crossed into the Baltic countries of Estonia and Latvia.
Ukraine has attributed the stray drones to Russian electronic warfare, technology designed to alter the flight paths of Ukrainian drones.
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia joined NATO in 2004, becoming signatories to Article 5, which states that “an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against all members”.