A Ukraine war drone is believed to have been shot down over NATO ally Lithuania for the first time after the unidentified aircraft entered its airspace from Belarus overnight.
What is believed to have been a drone from the Ukraine war passed close to Lithuanian Vilnius during a 30-minute flight over the NATO ally nation overnight into Tuesday before it was shot down by Italian Eurofighter jets deployed through the alliance’s air policing mission.
The drone, which Lithuania says it is retrieving wreckage from to determine its origin, is understood to have flown into Lithuania from Belarus and was visually identified as a potential threat by intercepting allied aircraft before being shot down. Lithuanian state broadcaster LRT said the drone was “flying along the outskirts of populated areas” before it was destroyed.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said in a statement: “A drone that just entered Lithuanian airspace was destroyed by NATO fighter jets. I thank Allied personnel for their swift response.
“With Russia intensifying its aggression against Ukraine, such readiness is vital for our region. Together with our NATO Allies, Lithuania will defend its airspace.”
The chief of the Lithuanian air force thanked Italy for their cooperation and fended off press criticism on Tuesday morning for the unknown aircraft having been allowed to fly so close to their capital, Vilnius, without being immediately shot down. He said the country was not in a state of war and consequently he didn’t have the legal power to shoot down every unidentified object.
Colonel Antanas Matutis said: “I think the algorithms need refining, but in reality there are no large-scale attacks on Lithuanian territory; whether the object contains explosives or not, we have no data, and it was not established that the drone had a target.”
Locals said they experienced a night of loud noises, strange lights, and explosions. One man who witnessed the drone crash after being shot down in the Kaišiadorys district, about 60 miles west of Vilnius said the government put out an emergency alert to mobile phones in the area but that it only came nearly an hour after the incident was over.
Given the drone came from Belarus airspace, the Lithuanian foreign ministry said it would be sending a note to Minsk about the incident, but would take no other option until the origin of the drone is established. In recent years as drone incursions into European NATO territory has become more common, perhaps as many Ukrainian-origin weapons have become ‘lost’ as have Russian, down in no small part to efforts by both to jam the navigation systems of enemy weapons and direct them away from their own cities.