A drone entered Lithuania from Poland on Sunday morning before crashing in the north of the country.
“The object is preliminarily believed to have entered Lithuanian airspace from Poland. I have already contacted the Polish defence minister and asked Poland to join the investigation so that we can look into this incident together,” Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas told reporters.
“The latest information from the police is that the debris may have damaged a civilian car,” Kaunas said. “The debris has been found, the area has been cordoned off, and the police are working to gather all the information.”
National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) head Vilmantas Vitkauskas confirmed to LRT RADIO that the object was most likely a Ukrainian drone, which could have entered the country as Kyiv carried out strikes in the St Petersburg region.
The authorities later confirmed that drone debris hit and damaged a moving car in northern Lithuania, but no one was injured.
“A person travelling from Biržai towards Pasvalys heard an explosion. Debris damaged their private car, denting the door. Clearly, some kind of explosion occurred. That is at least the preliminary information we have from the person who was at the scene,” Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius told reporters.
NATO jets scrambled
Defence Minister Kaunas said fighter jets were scrambled after the object was detected, but pilots couldn't see it visually because of poor weather.
In response to the suspected drone threat, an air alert was issued only in northern Lithuania. Kaunas said he found the situation “strange and unacceptable”.
“The military has already been tasked with gathering all the information and providing me with a detailed report. We will also look into the matter with the Fire and Rescue Department to establish why alerts were not sent out in time, if that is indeed what happened. We will analyse this, because it is absolutely unacceptable.
“If the object had already been detected in one part of Lithuania, everyone should have been informed in time. This issue has therefore already been raised,” Kaunas said.
War is ‘spilling over’
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said Russia’s war against Ukraine “is spilling over onto the Eastern flank of NATO and EU”.
“What appears to be a drone exploded over the northern part of the country, posing a danger to the civilian population,” he posted on X.
LRT English
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