Lithuanian leaders rushed to bunkers after drone triggers air raid alert

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė were rushed to underground bunkers, and residents of Vilnius were urged to take shelter after a drone violated the country’s airspace.

Air and train traffic in and around Vilnius was suspended after authorities issued a mobile phone “take shelter” alert, the first such alert in an EU and NATO country since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The defense ministry’s warning, sent at about 10:20 a.m. Wednesday and lasting about an hour, read: “Air raid alert! Go immediately to a shelter or a safe place, take care of your family members and wait for further instructions.”

Schools moved children to designated shelters, office and apartment building occupants descended to basements, and Nausėda and Ruginienė were rushed to bunkers along with cabinet members and parliamentarians.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after the alert that Russia and Belarus bore direct responsibility for a series of drone incursions into EU and NATO airspace in recent weeks.

Russian electronic jamming has been blamed for Ukrainian drones crossing into Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all of which border Russia. A NATO jet shot down a drone over Estonia on Tuesday, and Latvia’s prime minister resigned last week over the incursions.

“Russia’s public threats against our Baltic states are completely unacceptable,” von der Leyen said on social media. “Russia and Belarus bear direct responsibility for drones endangering the lives and security of people on our eastern flank.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Wednesday that even if drones crash-landing in the Baltic states were launched by Ukraine, they were “not there because Ukraine wants to send a drone to Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia. They are there because of the reckless, illegal, full-scale attack of Russia.”

Some EU and NATO members said a more forceful response might be needed. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday: “The Ukrainian-Russian war may soon lead to a situation where we will have to react firmly.”

Lithuania’s army said it detected a radar signal “typical of an unmanned aerial vehicle” in Belarusian airspace. Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Centre, said a drone was spotted in the Vilnius area.

“Based on the parameters we saw, it’s most likely either a combat drone or a drone designed to deceive systems and lure targets,” Vitkauskas said. “The electronic countermeasures here can’t tell us whether an explosive device detonated or not.”

Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said the drone came from Latvia and it was not known whether it crashed or left Lithuanian airspace. Authorities said NATO fighter jets were unable to locate it.

Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations caused outrage Tuesday by claiming Kyiv would soon launch drones at Russia from the Baltic states and telling Latvia that NATO membership would “not protect you from retaliation.”

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys on Tuesday accused Moscow of “deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones into Baltic airspace while waging smear campaigns” against all three Baltic states.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Russia’s military was “closely monitoring the situation” regarding drones flying through Baltic airspace and was formulating an appropriate response.