NATO fighters destroy drone over Lithuania as police secure debris area

NATO air policing troops destroyed a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace, while military police and army experts secured the area around Pratkūnai village in the Kaišiadorys district, LRT reported.

LRT journalists at the scene said military police were on duty in the village at about 2:25 a.m. on Tuesday. Access to the area was restricted, and the perimeter was being guarded as military experts searched for the drone’s wreckage.

Parts of the area were illuminated by powerful floodlights, apparently to assist the search. Firefighters arrived at the site at about 3 a.m.

It was not yet clear what type of drone had been destroyed or whether it was a combat drone carrying explosives. Representatives of the Lithuanian Armed Forces had not provided further details.

Residents in nearby areas reported hearing NATO fighter jets. Juozas, a resident of Ringailiai village in the Nemaitonys eldership, posted a nighttime recording in which aircraft could be heard flying overhead.

“It seems the fighters flew from Kaunas towards Vilnius. Fighters. Nothing can be seen,” he said in the recording.

Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Centre, told LRT radio that the drone had probably entered Lithuania from Belarus.

An initial warning about a possible air threat was issued in Vilnius and the surrounding district, as well as in the Trakai and Elektrėnai districts. The warning was later extended to Kaunas County as the drone continued flying.

In recent months, Lithuania has issued several possible air threat warnings as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues. However, this was the first time a drone had been destroyed over Lithuanian territory.

On Sunday, residents in parts of southeastern Lithuania were also warned of a possible air threat. Authorities later determined that radar systems had detected a flock of birds.