Nato military jets were scrambled to intercept a drone that flew near Vilnius, Lithuania's defence minister has said, as residents were urged to take shelter and the capital's airport suspended traffic.
Lithuania issued an “air danger” warning on Wednesday, with the army telling people in the capital: “Immediately take shelter in a safe place, take care of your close ones, await new recommendations.” A similar alert was broadcast over the intercom in the parliament building, asking people to go to the nearest shelter.
The national crisis management centre said the alert was prompted by a drone in neighbouring Belarus that was seen flying towards Lithuania, though its origin had not been confirmed. Lithuania's defence minister said it was not yet known whether the drone was Ukrainian. Vilnius airport later said flights had restarted after the warning was lifted.
The incident is the latest in a series of airspace violations in the region amid frequent altercations between Russia and Ukraine. On Tuesday, a Nato fighter jet shot down a suspected Ukrainian drone over Estonia, with Ukraine apologising for the “unintended incident” and Russia warning of retaliation if Ukrainian drones were launched from Baltic countries.
Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said the drone was most probably intended to hit Russian targets. The drone was shot down by a Romanian Nato fighter jet on a training flight using a single missile, under conditions of heavy electronic warfare, including GPS spoofing and jamming, which the Estonian military attributed to Russia. Ukraine has quadrupled its mid-range strikes since February in its battle against Russia's invasion.
