Nato jets shoot down drone violating Lithuania’s airspace

Nato fighter jets shot down a drone over Lithuania after an alert was issued in the ‌capital, Vilnius, and surrounding region, while Poland scrambled fighter jets less than a day after retrieving a suspected Russian drone adrift in its waters.

The Lithuania drone ⁠was shot down near the central-southern village of Pratkunai outside the city of Kaunas, said emergency authorities early on Tuesday. The drone came from neighbouring Belarus and was heading west, according to information from Lithuania’s crisis management centre that was reported by national radio LRT.

Gitanas Nauseda, the Lithuanian president, posted in the early hours of Tuesday: “A drone that just entered Lithuanian airspace was destroyed by Nato fighter jets. With Russia intensifying its aggression against Ukraine, such readiness is vital for our region.”

Poland ⁠meanwhile activated its air force as ​a preventive ‌measure ‌amid Russian drone attacks ‌on Ukraine. On Monday, the Polish military recovered a suspected Russian drone from the sea ⁠on the Baltic coast ⁠in ​northern Poland.

On Tuesday morning, the Lithuanian foreign minister, Kestutis Budrys, thanked allies “whose presence helps protect our skies and strengthens our security”.

“This is best example of allied unity and resolve in action – sending a clear message that Nato stands vigilant, committed, and ready.”

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – all Nato members on the Russian border – have repeatedly had drone incursions into their territories since Moscow began its war against Ukraine.

A Nato fighter shot down a Ukrainian drone over Estonia in May, the first interception of a foreign drone in the airspace of a Baltic state by Nato air police since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In Poland, the defence minister, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, said on Monday: “The military has located ⁠and recovered a drone from the Baltic Sea near the ​beach in Rusinowo, close ‌to Jaroslawiec.

“Preliminary inspection indicates that it is a Russian military ‌drone.”

A Polish armed forces spokesperson said the drone appeared to be a Gerbera – a cheap long-range aerial drone made of materials like plywood and foam. They are often used as decoys but can also carry explosives. It was recovered by a hydrographic vessel off the coast of the village of Rusinowo.

The Polish prime minister, ​Donald Tusk, has ​repeatedly warned that Nato countries ​should expect an increase in provocations from Moscow.

A ​Russian drone hit ‌a passenger ​train on ​Ukraine’s border with Poland on Sunday, shortly after former the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, and other foreign diplomats had used the same line.