Residents of Lithuania’s capital told to shelter as drone alarm underlines NATO’s eastern jitters
NATO air policing was activated and residents were told to shelter as the warning lasted about an hour, officials said.
- On Wednesday, Lithuania ordered an emergency shelter alert in Vilnius, moving President Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene to safety while closing Vilnius Airport airspace due to detected drone activity near Belarus.
- Lithuania, a NATO and European Union member, borders Russia-allied Belarus and Kaliningrad, straining security as recent stray drone incidents contributed to Latvia's government collapse last week.
- Lithuanian Foreign Minister Budrys on Tuesday accused Russia of "deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones into Baltic airspace," while Western officials suspect Russian electronic jamming caused the detected drone activity.
- Russia has renewed threats to retaliate if Baltic nations are complicit in using Ukrainian drones, despite Ukraine previously apologizing for an "unintended incident" involving stray drones.
- The alert marks the first major shelter mobilization in a European Union capital since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, underscoring growing insecurity on NATO's eastern fringe.
225 Articles
225 Articles
NEW: Baltic Nations Under Fire As Ukrainian Drone Alert Forces Emergency Shelter
In recent weeks, Baltic nations have faced an unsettling pattern of drone-related incidents, which authorities have largely attributed to Russian interference and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. This series of events has caused widespread alarm, prompting government actions and emergency responses that disrupt the daily lives of residents. On May 20, an incident in Lithuania underscored the severity of the situation. A drone incursion from Bela…
Nato ally issues emergency alert and forces children into bunkers as Russian drone sparks panic
Lithuania's President was forced into a bunker while the country's population were told to "take close care of their loved ones" as a Russian drone sparked widespread panic.The drone, which still has not been found, left Nato scrambling its jets after violating the Baltic state's airspace.Train traffic screeched to a halt around capital Vilnius, while schools and nurseries were told to take children into shelters.In an emergency alert from the c…
The President and Prime Minister of the country were taken to safe places, highlighting the nervousness on the eastern flank of NATO.
El Periódico
This is the first time, since Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February 2022, that an air alert carries with it the evacuation of leaders, deputies and inhabitants in the capital of an EU member country.
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