NATO Fighter Jet Shoots Down Drone Over Lithuania Near Kaunas
VILNIUS, LITHUANIA — WEB DESK: A NATO fighter jet shot down a drone over Lithuania shortly after midnight on Tuesday after the unmanned aircraft entered the Baltic country’s airspace, in the latest incident to heighten security concerns along NATO’s eastern frontier.
Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre said the drone was destroyed near Pratkunai village in southern Lithuania, close to Kaunas, the country’s second-largest city. Preliminary information indicated that it had likely entered from neighbouring Belarus and was travelling west.
However, Lithuanian authorities said the drone’s actual origin had not yet been determined. That distinction is significant: its flight path from Belarus does not establish who launched or operated it.
An alert had earlier been issued in the capital, Vilnius, and surrounding areas after authorities detected the potential drone threat. Express Urdu also reported the alert and the preliminary assessment that the aircraft had approached from Belarus.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda confirmed the interception and thanked allied forces for their rapid response. He said heightened readiness was vital for the region as Russia continues its war against Ukraine and stressed that Lithuania would defend its airspace alongside its NATO allies.
The incident comes amid increasing concern over military drones straying into NATO airspace around the Baltic Sea.
NATO’s Baltic air mission has patrolled the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia since the three countries joined the alliance in 2004. NATO aircraft have already shot down stray Ukrainian drones over Estonia in May and Latvia in June and August this year.
Ukraine has intensified long-range drone attacks against targets inside Russia, including around the Baltic region. Several Ukrainian military drones have subsequently entered neighbouring NATO countries’ airspace. Kyiv has blamed some of those incidents on Russian electronic warfare interfering with drone navigation.
Tuesday’s incident is particularly notable because Lithuania experienced a separate drone scare only days earlier.
On Sunday, authorities temporarily closed Vilnius Airport and NATO dispatched a fighter after radar detected what appeared to be a possible drone. A subsequent visual inspection determined that the objects were actually a flock of birds, and the alert was lifted after 38 minutes.
The latest case was different: Lithuanian authorities confirmed that an actual drone entered the country’s airspace and was destroyed by a NATO fighter.
Lithuania borders both Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, giving the Baltic NATO member particular strategic importance as concerns grow about spillover from the Russia-Ukraine war.
Authorities are now working to establish the drone’s type, ownership and origin. Until that investigation is completed, attributing the aircraft directly to Russia, Belarus or Ukraine would be premature.
