NATO Fighter Jets Shoot Down Drone in Lithuanian Airspace After Overnight Incursion
VILNIUS, Lithuania — NATO fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace overnight, President Gitanas Nausėda said, as officials worked to determine where the aircraft came from.
Lithuanian authorities said the drone most likely crossed into southern Lithuania near Kaunas, the country's second-largest city, from neighboring Belarus shortly after midnight on Tuesday.
Nausėda said in a post on X that a drone that had just entered Lithuanian airspace was destroyed by NATO fighter jets. The Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center said the drone's origin had not yet been established.
Earlier Tuesday, drone alerts sounded across the capital, Vilnius, and the surrounding region, a reminder of how quickly air warnings can spread in the Baltic states. The Ministry of Defense said Lithuanian armed forces and Italian pilots serving with the NATO air defense mission responded swiftly and responsibly to the incursion.
Nausėda added in his social media post that with Russia intensifying its aggression against Ukraine, such readiness is vital for the region. Together with NATO Allies, he said, Lithuania will defend its airspace. Moscow has not commented on the incident.
The episode underscores the sensitive geography of the Baltic region. Lithuania shares a long southern and eastern border with Belarus, a key Russian ally, and its airspace is protected in part by NATO allies.
Drone sightings were also reported in Lithuania on Sunday. The crisis management center later said an object likely entered from Belarus and traveled across the country before entering Russian airspace. That incident, dated 13 September, did not trigger air threat alerts.
Military drone incursions have become increasingly common across Europe since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In May, residents in Vilnius were forced to take shelter after a drone alert briefly grounded flights and rail travel.
NATO jets have also scrambled multiple times this year to shoot down stray Ukrainian drones that crossed into Estonia and Latvia. Ukraine has blamed such stray drones on Russian electronic warfare, technology designed to change the flight paths of Ukrainian drones.
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia joined NATO in 2004, becoming covered by Article 5, the alliance's core collective defense provision, which states that an armed attack against one member is considered an attack against all.
The latest downing is likely to reinforce calls in Vilnius and across the Baltics for stronger air defense and faster alliance coordination, especially as drone technology and electronic warfare make airspace incursions harder to attribute and respond to in real time.
Related coverage: Lithuania's leaders take shelter during drone air alert; Russia's new jet-powered drones outpacing Ukraine's air defenses with daily launches.