NATO fighter jets shoot down drone over Lithuania after it entered from Belarus

NATO fighter jets shot down a drone over Lithuania after it entered the country’s airspace from Belarus, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said early on Monday.

"I thank the members of our allies for their swift response," Nauseda wrote on X. He added: "At a time when Russia is intensifying its aggression against Ukraine, such readiness is of vital importance for our region. Together with our NATO allies, Lithuania will protect its airspace," without specifying from which country the drone had been launched.

Drone fell near Lake Kaunas, allies praised

The Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT, citing preliminary data from the National Crisis Management Centre, reported that the drone entered from neighbouring Belarus and was moving west. It fell in a rural area near Lake Kaunas in the central part of the country.

"We express our sincerest gratitude to our allies, whose presence contributes to the protection of our airspace and to strengthening our security," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys wrote on X, adding that "NATO remains vigilant, committed and ready."

Separately, the Polish General Staff said overnight that it had begun "air military operations" over the country because of strikes carried out by Russian drones against neighbouring Ukraine.

Incidents involving drones entering the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — former Soviet republics bordering Russia — are recorded regularly. On May 19 a NATO warplane over Estonia shot down a Ukrainian drone, the first interception of a foreign drone in Baltic airspace by the NATO air mission since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

European analysts say Russia appears to deliberately divert Ukrainian drones that are launched at industrial facilities and oil terminals in the St. Petersburg region on the Gulf of Finland.

Photo: press material from the event