NATO fighter jets shot down a drone in Lithuanian airspace, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda announced early this morning, quoted by DPA, BTA reported.
"I thank the personnel of our allies for their quick reaction", Nauseda wrote in Ex. "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 defend its airspace," he added, without specifying which country launched the drone.
According to Lithuanian national radio LRT, citing preliminary data from the National Crisis Management Center, the drone entered from neighboring Belarus and was moving west. It fell in a rural area near Lake Kaunas, in the central part of the country, notes Agence France-Presse.
"We express our most sincere gratitude to our allies, whose presence contributes to the protection of our airspace and to the strengthening of our security", wrote for his part, also in Aix, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys, who added that "NATO remains vigilant, engaged and ready".
Meanwhile, the Polish Army General Staff announced tonight that it had begun "air military operations" over the country due to strikes by Russian drones against neighboring Ukraine.
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - former Soviet republics bordering Russia - regularly record drone incursions into their airspace.
On May 19, a NATO fighter jet shot down a Ukrainian drone over Estonia, which was the first interception of a foreign drone in the airspace of a Baltic state by a NATO air mission since the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
According to European analysts, Russia is deliberately diverting Ukrainian drones launched at industrial facilities and oil terminals in the St. Petersburg region, located on the Gulf of Finland, AFP notes.