Italian jets destroyed a drone over Lithuania in the first such shootdown in the country
Lithuania says there is a high probability it carried explosives, and its origin has not been established.
On the night of 15 September, NATO fighter jets from Italy destroyed a drone over Lithuania, marking the first such incident in the country, according to LRT. The aircraft flew from Belarus and descended near a village in central Lithuania, where military police secured the scene. The drone's type and operator remain unidentified.
As Russia continues its war efforts extending beyond Ukraine, NATO's eastern border faces increased pressure, with reports of drones crossing borders, sabotage inside Europe, and warnings of Moscow potentially turning against the alliance within a year of the Ukraine conflict's conclusion.
Following the incident, Lithuania's National Crisis Management Center issued a yellow air alert, first for the capital and surrounding areas, then for the Kaunas region to the west. Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons, participating in NATO's Baltic air policing mission from Šiauliai Air Base, successfully neutralized the drone with a missile, as confirmed by Lithuania's Defense Ministry.
The army subsequently released the first images from the crash site. Lithuanian crisis center head Vilmantas Vitkauskas stated to LRT radio that the drone remained over Lithuanian territory for approximately half an hour. He also mentioned a high probability of the drone carrying an explosive charge, although the wreckage has not yet definitively determined whether it was a combat drone.
Lithuania opted for a yellow alert instead of a red one, explaining that red is reserved for situations where a strike or fall is unavoidable, and the drone was destroyed within seconds of the air defense responding, over farmland with no residential structures nearby.
Debris from the destroyed drone was discovered near Pratkūnai, in the Kaišiadorys district, on the same day. The area is now under security measures, with military and civilian police present, and the site has been fenced off and guarded. President Gitanas Nausėda expressed gratitude to the allied personnel for their prompt response, emphasizing the importance of readiness in the region given Russia's escalating aggression against Ukraine.
Lithuania's military police and police blockaded the road leading to the crash site. Vilnius airport temporarily halted operations during the alert, causing delays for flights from Turkey and Iceland. The same evening, Poland deployed fighter jets and raised air defense readiness due to Russian drone strikes on western Ukraine, while Romania also took similar measures, though neither country reported a violation of their airspace.
Prior to this event, on the previous day, Polish military personnel recovered a drone from the Baltic Sea, which their defense minister suggested, based on preliminary inspection, was likely Russian. Additionally, Romania reported shooting down a Ukrainian strike drone over southern Estonia on 19 May, marking the first NATO drone shootdown in Baltic airspace.
Ukrainian drones have reportedly been manipulated into NATO territory by Russian electronic warfare, with Estonia's foreign minister accusing Russia of deliberately steering them into the alliance's territory.
Written by urgent.news from Euromaidan Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
