Lithuania expands search for missing drone with additional forces

The search for a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace on Wednesday before disappearing from radar will continue on Thursday with reinforced personnel and equipment, the country’s military chief announced.

Gen. Raimundas Vaikšnoras, commander of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, told LRT Radio that poor weather had forced the suspension of Wednesday’s search, which will now resume with a helicopter, up to 100 troops, and military police units. “The weather today looks more favourable—the clouds aren’t as low,” he said.

Authorities are urging residents in the search area to share any video footage or observations that could help locate the drone. “We’ve received a lot of information, so we ask anyone who saw or recorded something to come forward,” Vaikšnoras said, emphasising that public reports could accelerate the search.

The drone was first detected near Lithuania’s border after Belarusian services alerted local authorities to a potential airborne threat. Vaikšnoras confirmed that Lithuanian officials initially contacted their Belarusian counterparts via a hotline, though Minsk initially denied the drone’s existence before later acknowledging the risk of it crossing into Lithuanian territory.

“When unclear activity was observed—objects circling in Belarusian airspace—our air force duty officer made the first call,” the general explained. “They denied it at first, but eventually admitted there was a threat.”

He noted that while the hotline had seen little recent use, it remained critical for avoiding technical misunderstandings during incidents. “Politics aside, these channels help prevent confusion at an operational level,” Vaikšnoras added.

The drone triggered a brief nationwide air raid alert on Wednesday. Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) issued warnings across multiple regions, including Vilnius, after radar tracked an unmanned object matching the drone’s signature near the border at 9:40 AM local time. The alert was lifted by 10:51 AM, though the drone vanished from radar near Merkine shortly after 11:00 AM.

Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the NKVC, told LRT Radio that the drone may have re-entered Belarusian airspace. “The possibility it crashed remains, but we can’t rule out that it left our airspace and returned to Belarus,” he said. Police have reported no confirmed sightings of a downed drone in Lithuania.

The incident prompted NATO fighter jets to scramble, a temporary shutdown of Vilnius Airport’s airspace, and a halt to rail operations in the Vilnius region.