NATO jets shot down an unidentified drone that flew into Lithuanian airspace from neighboring Belarus, the latest incursion on the alliance’s eastern flank amid rising concerns of Russia’s war on Ukraine spilling over into Europe.
“Even though the war seems to be taking place a thousand kilometers away from Lithuania, its scale is still large and extensive,” Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas told national broadcaster LRT Tuesday. “Russia’s unwillingness to come to peace negotiations affects the security of the Baltic region.”
The drone was intercepted five kilometers from a hydroelectric power plant near Pratkunai in central Lithuania, state energy company Ignitis Group said. Air alerts sounded over the capital Vilnius and the country’s second-largest city Kaunas before the drone was brought down. The Lithuanian military later found and neutralized explosives at the site, Kaunas said on social media.
“Once we have traced the drone’s flight path, we will be able to determine clearly whether this was a Russian drone – potentially a provocation – or a defensive drone belonging to another country,” Kaunas said after a meeting with his Italian counterpart at Siauliai airbase, where the Italian jets that intercepted the drone are stationed.
Tuesday’s downing was the first time NATO intercepted a drone over the territory of Lithuania and followed similar incidents in Latvia and Estonia in recent months. Intensifying exchanges of air attacks between Ukraine and Russia are turning into a growing issue for NATO members as drones are jammed or veer off course.
NATO jets downed a drone over Latvia in August after it entered the country’s airspace as a result of Russian electronic warfare. A Romanian F-16 shot down a suspected Ukrainian drone over Estonia in May.
Tuesday’s incident was also the second drone sighting over the Baltic nation in three days. On Sunday, an unidentified object authorities suspected of being a drone entered Lithuanian airspace from Belarus before crossing into Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad.
It came after Warsaw said Monday that the Polish military retrieved a Russian military drone from the Baltic Sea near the town of Rusinowo.
The flurry of aerial incidents coincided with a US diplomatic mission to Minsk. A delegation led by Special Envoy John Coale traveled from Vilnius to Minsk for talks with President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday, state-run news service Belta said. Coale visited Belarus several times since 2025, brokering the release of hundreds of political prisoners while Belarus gained some relief from US sanctions.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys told reporters on Tuesday that his ministry would summon the Belarusian ambassador over the incident.
European officials have warned Russia may escalate sabotage and covert attacks against the continent as Moscow struggles to make progress in its war against Ukraine that’s now in its fifth year. Earlier this month, Germany attributed an attempted drone attack on Leipzig airport to Russian intelligence.
The Danish military said on Monday that a Russian warship fired flares toward a Danish helicopter as it was carrying out the “routine” task of taking photographs.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the incident serious but not surprising, describing it as a “pattern we’re seeing across Europe with an increasingly aggressive and assertive Russia that’s intensified its hybrid war against Europe and is testing and challenging NATO.”
Meanwhile, Dutch railway infrastructure agency ProRail said Tuesday that materials were found deliberately placed on tracks at multiple locations across the Netherlands, severely disrupting some train services that morning.
“Sabotage appears to be involved,” ProRail said.
