Citizens in shelters: Alarm due to drone in Lithuania and Latvia

Citizens to shelter: Alarm due to drone in Lithuania and Latvia An unmanned flying object has violated the airspace of Lithuania and put the armed forces of the NATO country on alert. The object was probably a drone that infiltrated from neighboring Poland, said Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas on Sunday. Residents in the center and north of the country were called to take shelter for about an hour. The Kaunas city airport was closed, NATO fighter jets took off. After the object disappeared from radar, possible debris was found near the village of Juodzionys. Some of it had hit a civilian vehicle, said Kaunas. He proposed a joint investigation of the incident to his Polish colleague. No one was injured in the incident, said the head of the national crisis management center, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, on Lithuanian radio. "Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is targeting the eastern flank of NATO and the EU," stated President Gitanas Nausėda on the X platform earlier. An alleged drone exploded over the north of the country and poses a danger to the civilian population. Poland investigates the incident The Polish army announced that it was examining a possible violation of its airspace by an unidentified object. At the same time, the Polish Air Force conducted preventive measures due to Russian missile attacks on Ukraine, according to Polish authorities. These actions served to secure Polish airspace, it was stated in a declaration. The airports in the cities of Lublin and Rzeszów in the east of the country temporarily suspended operations to give the military freedom of action. Latvia also issued a temporary warning for some regions bordering Lithuania due to a "possible threat." In recent months, Ukrainian drones have repeatedly entered the NATO airspace in the Baltic region. The government in Kyiv had stated that these were being diverted by Russian jamming signals. The incidents raise concerns that the Russian war in Ukraine could spill over into the territory of the western alliance. NATO confirms operation A NATO representative confirmed that two Italian Eurofighters were deployed in response to a drone in Lithuanian airspace. The aircraft operated under NATO command. An investigation is underway, and NATO is in close contact with Lithuanian authorities, the spokesperson said. According to Vitkauskas, some debris and parts of the flying object have already been found. However, it is still unclear whether the drone contained explosives. In the course of the Ukraine war, there have already been several incidents with drones in Lithuania and the other two Baltic states, Estonia and Latvia. Misdirected Ukrainian drones, which Kyiv wanted to attack targets in the northwest of Russia, repeatedly entered the airspace of the Baltic states and crashed. In Lithuania, drones from Belarus have also flown in the past.