Nato military jets have been scrambled to intercept a drone that flew near Vilnius, Lithuania’s defence minister has said, as residents were urged to seek shelter immediately.
Lithuania on Wednesday issued an “air danger” warning and suspended traffic at the capital’s airport amid fears of drones violating the country’s airspace. The warning was ended nationwide shortly after.
“Immediately take shelter in a safe place, take care of your close ones, await new recommendations,” Lithuania’s army said in a message sent to people in the country’s capital.
A warning was also issued in the Vilnius parliament building with a warning announcement issued over the intercom amid the reported incursion.
“Due to the risk of air attack, we ask all persons in the building to go to the nearest shelter,” said an announcement on parliament’s intercom.
Lithuania’s national crisis management centre earlier said it had issued an alert in response to a drone in neighbouring Belarus that was seen flying towards Lithuania, adding the drone’s origin had not been confirmed.
The country’s defence minister said that Lithuania does not yet know whether the drone is Ukrainian.
Vilnius airport said it had restarted flights after the warning.
It is the latest in a series of airspace violations in the region amid frequent altercations between Russia and Ukraine.
On Tuesday, a Nato fighter jet shot down a suspected Ukrainian drone over Estonia, the Baltic country said. Ukraine apologised for the “unintended incident” and Russia warned of retaliation if Ukrainian drones are launched from Baltic countries.
Given the trajectory of the drone, “we decided that we need to take it down,” Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said.
“Most probably, today we can say that it was (a) drone which was, let’s say, meant to hit some Russian targets,” he told The Associated Press.
The drone shot down by a Romanian Nato fighter jet on a training flight at 12.14pm (0914 GMT), with a single missile.
“The incident occurred under the conditions of heavy electronic warfare, including GPS spoofing and jamming, by Russia,” the Estonian military added.
The drone had been under surveillance before it entered Estonia, the military explained with the decision to shoot it down taken to “minimise the impact on the civilian population and infrastructure”.
Ukraine has quadrupled its mid-range strikes since February this year in its battle against Russia’s invasion.
