NATO Jets Down Drone Over Lithuania After 30-Minute Incursion From Belarus
Updated
Updated · PBS NewsHour · Sep 15
NATO Jets Down Drone Over Lithuania After 30-Minute Incursion From Belarus
3 articles · Updated · PBS NewsHour · Sep 15
Summary
Italian NATO fighters destroyed a potentially armed drone over a field near Pratkunai after tracking it for about 30 minutes in Lithuanian airspace, the first such shootdown there.
Lithuanian authorities said the drone likely carried explosives and probably entered from Belarus, but they have not determined whether it was a lost aircraft or a deliberate provocation.
The interception came near residential areas and about 60 miles west of Vilnius, underscoring risks on NATO's front line between Belarus and Russia's Kaliningrad enclave.
Recent incidents across the Baltic region include drone incursions over Estonia and Latvia, an alleged Russian plan to target a German airport, and a Russian warship firing flares near a Danish helicopter.
EU officials and former U.S. ambassador to NATO Doug Lute cast the episode as part of a broader Russian hybrid campaign to test and distract the alliance without triggering Article 5.