NATO’s Baltic flank rattled by drone incidents as VDL blames Russia

Lithuanian authorities issued an air alert on Wednesday morning after a stray drone was detected in the country’s airspace.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Defense wrote on X that the unmanned vehicle was spotted near the border with Belarus and confirmed that NATO’s Baltic air-policing mission had been activated. In a statement to national broadcaster LRT, military authorities added that the incident was “similar to what we have been seeing in recent days in Latvia and Estonia.”

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused Russia and Belarus of bearing “direct responsibility for drones endangering the lives and security of people” on Europe’s Eastern flank. “A threat against one Member State is a threat against our entire Union,” she wrote on X, adding that “Europe will respond with unity and strength.”

Following the detection of the drone in Lithuania, Vilnius International Airport was closed and officials in the Ignalina District Municipality instructed children in schools to take shelter. Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė was set to meet with her National Security Commission on Wednesday to discuss drone incursions; a government spokesperson told LRT that she had been taken to a shelter in response to the air alert.

In a letter obtained by POLITICO, a group of 15 Baltic MEPs from across the political spectrum on Wednesday asked von der Leyen and EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas to take action.

“It must be made clear that none of the EU Member States can be threatened,” the lawmakers said, adding that von der Leyen and Kallas should “demand that Russia stop these provocative actions immediately.”

Two Ukrainian drones hit an empty oil storage site in Latvia earlier this month, prompting a political crisis that led Prime Minister Evika Silina to resign last week. On Tuesday, a NATO jet shot down an unmanned vehicle over Estonia. Kyiv maintains electronic jamming by Russia is leading its drones to stray into EU airspace.

The latest incident comes amid weeks of airspace incursions in the Baltics from the nearby Russo-Ukrainian war. Last week, Finland issued another alert after a drone was detected flying over the skies of Helsinki. The origin of Wednesday’s drone is unclear.