Lithuanian military withholds conclusions after drone shot down

LRT reported that allied Italian fighter jets shot down a drone over Lithuania shortly after midnight, while the Lithuanian military said it would not rush to conclusions about the incident.

The military said an object flying towards Lithuania was detected in the country’s airspace at around midnight. At approximately 12:20 a.m., the drone was identified and shot down by allied Italian fighter jets that took off from the Šiauliai Air Base.

The drone has been found, and the scene has been cordoned off and placed under guard. Military and Lithuanian police forces are working at the location, the military said.

“We will not rush to conclusions. An investigation will be conducted and all circumstances assessed,” the military said, adding that the immediate priority was that the threat had been neutralised and no longer posed a danger to residents.

Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Centre, previously told LRT radio that the drone had probably entered Lithuania from Belarus. Alerts about a possible air threat were initially issued in Vilnius and its district, as well as in the Trakai and Elektrėnai districts, and later in Kaunas County as the drone continued flying.

LRT reported that this was the first time a drone had been shot down over Lithuania. In recent months, the country has issued several alerts about possible air threats during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On Sunday, an alert affecting parts of southeastern Lithuania was later attributed to radar detection of a flock of birds.