Lithuania issues shelter warning after suspected drone enters airspace
An unidentified object prompted a roughly hour-long shelter alert in central and northern Lithuania, fighter deployments and a temporary closure of Kaunas airport.
Kaunas, Lithuania. Residents across central and northern Lithuania were instructed to take shelter for approximately one hour on Sunday morning following an airspace intrusion by an unidentified object, the army and national crisis management centre said.
Suspected drone prompts investigation
Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas told reporters that the object was probably a drone arriving from Poland. He said he had suggested conducting a joint investigation with Poland’s defence minister.
The Polish military said it was checking whether an unidentified object had also breached Polish airspace.
After radar contact with the object was lost, Lithuanian military personnel examined suspected drone wreckage near the northern village of Juodzionys, according to the crisis management centre. Kaunas said some debris hit a civilian vehicle.
Fighters deployed and airport closed
The crisis management centre said NATO air-policing fighters were deployed during the red alert, while operations at Kaunas airport were temporarily suspended. The airport is near Lithuania’s second-biggest city.
Cloud cover prevented the fighters from identifying the object visually, and they made no attempt to bring it down, the centre said.
A request for comment from NATO received no immediate response.
Latvia issues brief warning
The army in Latvia, Lithuania’s northern neighbour, said a yellow air warning was briefly put in place across some regions adjoining Lithuania because of a potential threat.
Ukrainian drones have crossed into NATO airspace in the Baltic region repeatedly over recent months. Kyiv has attributed those deviations from their routes to Russian jamming of signals.
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