Drone from Poland crashes in Pasvalys district, damaging car

A drone that entered Lithuania from Poland early Sunday crossed almost the entire country before crashing near the Latvian border in Pasvalys district, damaging a moving car but causing no injuries, LRT reported.

Police in Pasvalys said they had received about 20 reports. One resident told LRT they heard fighter jets and then an explosion about five minutes later. Another said they heard the drone flying overhead.

Fragments struck the front door of a car with a person inside. The person was not injured. Authorities have not said whether the drone was carrying explosives, but they have not ruled it out. Police said a response plan had been activated and suspected drone fragments were found.

Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said the operation began at about 6 a.m. Radar systems reportedly detected the drone, and NATO fighter jets were scrambled from the Šiauliai air base. The pilots were unable to make visual contact because of fog, cloud and difficult weather conditions, the minister said.

Kaunas said he had asked Poland to help investigate the incident because the drone entered Lithuania from there. It would have flown over Marijampolė County, where residents did not receive alerts. The minister said he would look into why warnings were not sent there.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said the alert system had worked, but not fully: according to the information available to him, notifications began only in the Kaunas region. A yellow alert was sent in Kaunas at about 7 a.m., flights to Kaunas Airport were temporarily suspended, and residents of Šiauliai and Panevėžys received red alerts.

A Pasvalys district municipality official said shelters were not opened because no one had asked for them to be opened. The president said Russia’s war against Ukraine was spreading to NATO’s eastern flank.