Lithuanian speaker says air threat alerts help people feel safer

Public warnings about potential aerial threats allow residents to feel more secure, Lithuania’s parliamentary speaker Juozas Olekas said on Tuesday, following alerts issued in the Vilnius region, state broadcaster LRT reports.

“I think it’s very good that people are reacting calmly to the situation,” Olekas told reporters outside the Seimas. “There are shelters where they can go to feel safer—everything seems to be handled correctly.”

He added that such alerts “help people feel safer and avoid unnecessary fear,” emphasising the importance of notifying the public not only about incoming objects but also about detected markers to prevent panic or delayed reactions.

The National Crisis Management Centre reported that the morning alert was triggered by radar detection of an unidentified marker with characteristics of an unmanned aerial vehicle near Lithuania’s eastern border with Belarus. Residents in the Vilnius region were later instructed to seek shelter before the threat level was downgraded. The alert status in Alytus district remained at “yellow.”