OMM Newsroom
Two Italian “Eurofighter” jets operating under NATO command were scrambled on Sunday after a drone was detected in Lithuanian airspace, Anadolu Agency reported. Debris later damaged a moving civilian vehicle in the country’s north.
A NATO official confirmed to Italian news agency ANSA that the jets had been dispatched in response to the drone. The official said an investigation was underway and the alliance was in close contact with Lithuanian authorities.
“NATO is ready and able to respond to any potential threat, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to safeguard our territory and protect our population,” the official said.
Debris damages car in northern Lithuania
Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said preliminary information suggested the object entered the country from Poland, public broadcaster LRT reported. He said he had contacted Poland’s defence minister and asked the country to join the investigation.
Authorities confirmed that debris damaged a car travelling from Birzai toward Pasvalys. No one was injured.
Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius said the driver heard an explosion before debris struck the vehicle, denting its door. Police cordoned off the area and were collecting evidence.
Authorities investigate the drone’s origin
Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center, told LRT Radio that the object was most likely a Ukrainian drone that could have entered Lithuania during Kyiv’s strikes on Russia’s St Petersburg region.
Kaunas said poor weather had prevented the scrambled pilots from visually identifying the object. He also questioned why an air alert had been issued only in northern Lithuania, calling the situation “strange and unacceptable.”
The military was instructed to provide a detailed report, and authorities were to examine whether public warnings had been delayed.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said Russia’s war against Ukraine “is spilling over onto the Eastern flank of NATO and EU.”
“What appears to be a drone exploded over the northern part of the country, posing a danger to the civilian population,” he wrote on “X”.
