Lithuania and Poland launch joint probe into drone explosion

Lithuanian and Polish defence ministries have formed a joint group to investigate why a drone exploded in Pasvalys district, President Gitanas Nausėda said, according to LRT.

Nausėda, who was visiting Poland, said on Tuesday that there was additional information about the incident but he did not want to pre-empt the investigation. He said the findings would be made public once the inquiry was complete.

The drone entered Lithuania from Poland on Sunday, according to BNS. It crashed and exploded in Juodžionys village in Pasvalys district. Debris damaged a civilian car. Lithuanian officials said the drone was Ukrainian and carried explosives. Ukraine apologised, saying the drone may have been diverted by Russian electronic warfare systems.

Polish news portal Polsatnews, citing sources at Poland’s defence ministry, reported that the drone had been launched from Lithuanian territory about 30 kilometres from the Polish border and had not entered Polish airspace. Poland’s defence ministry later denied that report.

Nausėda said close cooperation between Lithuania and Poland was essential to counter hybrid threats, including sharing intelligence that could help protect lives.

The Lithuanian military said its Polish counterparts did not detect the drone on their radars. Nausėda said detection was not yet ideal, particularly when tracking objects at an altitude of several kilometres amid background interference, and that technical capabilities needed to be improved.

Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas has said he expects an integrated system for detecting objects in the airspace to be partly operational by the end of 2027. After the incident, Lithuania began talks with NATO on the possibility of shooting down objects violating its airspace without visual confirmation.