NATO jets shot down an unidentified drone that flew into the Lithuanian airspace from neighboring Belarus early Tuesday, the latest incursion on the alliance’s eastern flank as aerial warfare between Ukraine and Russia intensifies.
The drone was intercepted over Pratkunai in central Lithuania, the area close to a hydroelectric power plant of Kruonis, Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said. Air alerts sounded out over the capital region of Vilnius and the country’s second-largest city Kaunas before the drone was brought down.
It was the first time that NATO shot down a drone over the territory of Lithuania. The incident follows similar incidents in neighboring Latvia and Estonia in recent months. Intensifying exchanges of air attacks between Ukraine and Russia are turning into a growing issue for NATO countries as drones are jammed or veer off course.
“Even though the war seems to be taking place a thousand kilometers away from Lithuania, its scale is still large and extensive,” Kaunas told national broadcaster LRT Tuesday. “Russia’s unwillingness to come to peace negotiations affects the security of the Baltic region.”
NATO jets downed a drone over Latvia in August after it entered the country’s airspace as a result of Russian electronic warfare, and a Romanian F-16 shot down a suspected Ukrainian drone over Estonia in May. Poland said Monday that the Polish military retrieved a Russian military UAV from the Baltic Sea near the town of Rusinowo.
European officials have also warned that Russia may escalate sabotage and covert attacks against the continent as it struggles to make progress in its war in Ukraine that’s now in a fifth year. Germany earlier this month attributed a drone attack on a Leipzig airport to Russian intelligence and said it expects further hybrid aggression.
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