Lithuania must improve emergency response as drone threat grows, president warns

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has stated that the likelihood of combat drones entering the country’s airspace remains high, following a recent security incident that exposed gaps in emergency preparedness, LRT reports.

Speaking on national television, Nausėda described Wednesday’s red air-raid alert in the Vilnius region—a response to an unidentified drone crossing from Belarus—as a “valuable lesson” that must be learned without delay. “What we experienced today is a very good lesson […] We must learn it well,” he said.

The president confirmed that warning systems functioned as intended: both Lithuania and Latvia were notified of the drone’s approach after it was first detected near Daugavpils in Latvia, then tracked along Lithuania’s eastern border toward Vilnius. Alerts activated sequentially across regions, escalating to red as the drone neared the capital. Authorities, including military helicopters and police, later searched for the drone near Gudžiai in Varėna district after it vanished from radar.

However, Nausėda acknowledged critical failures in public and institutional responses. Some shelters were locked or inaccessible, while schools and kindergartens reacted unevenly—some evacuating children safely, others advising parents to collect them, risking further exposure. “Suggesting parents fetch their children from schools not only endangers them but their entire families,” he said, calling such actions “completely irresponsible.”

He urged citizens to treat air-raid warnings seriously, rejecting both panic and dismissive attitudes as dangerous extremes. “Acting bravely and assuming this is just a game is utterly irresponsible,” he stressed, while noting that most institutions followed protocols by moving to designated safe zones.

The incident underscores the need for systemic improvements, Nausėda said, particularly in shelter accessibility and public compliance with emergency procedures. With drone threats expected to persist, he warned that future failures could have graver consequences.