NATO fighter jets destroyed a drone that violated Lithuania’s airspace, President Gitanas Nausėda announced, thanking allied military personnel for their swift response.
He stressed that readiness to respond quickly to aerial threats was vital to regional security as Russia intensified its aggression against Ukraine.
“Together with our NATO Allies, Lithuania will defend its airspace,” Nausėda said.
Drone incursions into NATO countries’ airspace are no longer isolated incidents. According to Romanian Defence Ministry figures cited by ABC News on August 21, Russian drones had entered the country’s airspace at least 23 times since the beginning of 2026. That amounts to several recorded violations per month in just one NATO member state.
New reports are also emerging from the Baltic region. On September 14, Polish troops found a suspected Russian military drone near the Baltic Sea coast, Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced, according to “Reuters”. When the drone entered Polish territory and the circumstances surrounding the incident remained unclear at the time of the announcement.
However, not every alert proves to be a genuine threat. A day earlier, on September 13, Lithuania temporarily closed Vilnius Airport and scrambled a fighter jet after detecting a suspicious aerial object. An inspection revealed that a flock of birds had been mistaken for a drone, “Reuters” reported.
