Lithuania dismisses Ukraine’s claim that Russia deliberately redirected drones to Baltic states

Lithuania’s Prime Minister Ingrida Ruginienė and Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas have rejected Ukraine’s assertion that Russia intentionally diverted drones into the Baltic states and Finland to provoke tensions, LRT reports.

Speaking to the Baltic News Service (BNS) on Wednesday, Kaunas declined to comment on intelligence findings from either Lithuania or Ukraine. “This is a question for Ukraine. I won’t discuss intelligence data—neither ours nor Ukraine’s. There are public interpretations, but as I said, I won’t comment on intelligence,” he stated.

Last week, several drones were detected and exploded in the Baltic states, while Finland reported two stray drones crashing in its southeast—one confirmed to be of Ukrainian origin. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha claimed on Tuesday that these incidents were deliberate Russian actions aimed at sowing discord between Ukraine and its European allies.

Ruginienė reiterated that a Ukrainian drone had accidentally entered Lithuanian airspace, calling it an “unintentional incident.” She emphasised the proximity of the war: “The conflict is closer than we might imagine, and such incidents can happen.”

“Let’s stop listening to various rumours. We should rely on what the services say, and our services have been very clear about this incident: a drone crashed due to an unintentional error, and that information is accurate,” she added.

The Lithuanian Presidency previously noted that Kyiv had expressed regret over the incidents, while Baltic officials framed them as consequences of Russia’s large-scale aggression in Ukraine.