NATO fighter jets were scrambled on Sunday after an unidentified flying object, suspected to be a drone, entered Lithuanian airspace near the Latvian border, prompting multiple air alerts and a military investigation.
Lithuanian authorities and Latvia’s armed forces reported the incident, which occurred on Sunday morning in the Biržai district of northern Lithuania. The object’s origin remains unknown, and investigators are working to establish what happened.
Lithuanian Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said fighter jets conducting a NATO air defence mission were tracking the object but could not identify it visually because of poor weather conditions.
“Due to difficult weather conditions, the fighter jet pilots are currently unable to visually identify the object,” Kaunas wrote in a social media post.
The Latvian military said the aircraft appeared not to have shot down the suspected unmanned aerial vehicle. It also suggested that the object might have detonated on its own.
Lithuanian military personnel were heading to the area where the object’s radio signal was lost to conduct an inspection on the ground. Officials had not confirmed the object’s type, ownership or intended destination.
The incident adds to a growing number of drone incursions and unexplained aerial incidents along NATO’s eastern flank. Several such events in recent years have raised concerns about the potential spillover of Russia’s war in Ukraine into neighbouring countries.
The latest development followed an announcement by Romanian authorities on Saturday that two drones had been shot down over the Black Sea after entering Romanian airspace.
Romania’s Defence Ministry said radar surveillance systems had detected several aerial targets, prompting the deployment of F-16 fighter jets. The ministry later identified the targets as “jet-powered attack drones from the Geran family”.
Romanian Defence Minister Radu Miruta provided details of the interceptions, saying the first drone entered national airspace at approximately 17:59 local time and was shot down within two minutes, about 25 kilometres south-east of the town of Sulina.
The second drone was engaged and destroyed at 18:05, five minutes after entering Romanian airspace, approximately 20 kilometres east of Sulina, Miruta said.
The incidents highlight the continuing air security challenges facing NATO members bordering Russia and Ukraine, particularly around the Black Sea and the alliance’s eastern European territory.
NATO maintains air policing and defence operations in the region to monitor potential threats and respond to unidentified aircraft. However, the circumstances surrounding Sunday’s incident in Lithuania remain under investigation, and authorities have yet to establish whether it was connected to the conflict in Ukraine.
