{"id":206077,"date":"2026-10-03T14:06:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T11:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/206077\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T14:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T11:11:09","slug":"lithuania-scrambles-fighter-jets-closes-airport-over-unidentified-flying-object-from-belarus","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/206077\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania scrambles fighter jets, closes airport over unidentified flying object from Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (Bradley Singleton \/ unsplash.com)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

October 3, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> The Lithuanian army deployed fighter jets and the Vilnius International Airport suspended operations briefly on Saturday morning after the detection of an unidentified object that had entered the Lithuanian airspace from Belarus, LRT<\/em> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents of eastern Lithuania received text message at around 10:00 a.m. alerting them to a possible aerial threat and telling them to stay away from suspicious object. Forty minutes later the all-clear was given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania\u2019s National Crisis Management Centre, told LRT<\/em> that the object had disappeared from radars and \u201cno longer poses a threat.\u201d \u201cIf it has fallen, it should be found,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, this doesn\u2019t have to be a drone as there are some indications that its speed was slightly lower than usual. This could have been some anomaly or something to do with the migration of birds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lithuania last issued an air raid warning in the early hours of September 15 when its military detected a flying object entering the country\u2019s airspace from Belarus. Residents of Vilnius and several regions received a potential air raid alert. Italian NATO fighter jets were scrambled from the \u0160iauliai air base to intercept it. The drone\u2019s wreckage was later found in the Kai\u0161iadorys district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deividas Matulionis, a senior aide to Lithuanian President Gitanas Naus\u0117da, said that Minsk had not warned Vilnius about the drone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas later said that the drone shot down over central Lithuania had been carrying explosives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 17, the Lithuanian foreign ministry handed the Belarusian embassy\u2019s representative a verbal note expressing \u201cstrong protest\u201d in connection with the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drone incursion occurred hours after John Coale, US special envoy for Belarus, met with Lithuanian Foreign Minister K\u0119stutis Budrys in Vilnius ahead of his trip to Minsk for talks with Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka on the release of a new group of political prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 14, Latvia recorded a similar incident, with NATO patrol fighter jets shooting down a drone that had entered Latvian airspace from Belarus. Latvian Defense Minister Raivis Melnis said the drone had been knocked off course by Russian electronic jamming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Baltic states reportedly recorded at least 24 drone incursions between January 2025 and May 2026, with Latvia reporting at least 12 incidents, Lithuania seven and Estonia five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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