Lithuania – Vilnius airport closed after drone alert, NATO jets scrambled

Vilnius Airport in Lithuania was closed today for less than an hour, after authorities received a report of a suspected drone entering Lithuanian territory from the direction of Belarus, Reuters reported.

After the alert, NATO fighter jets engaged in the air-policing mission over the Baltic states’ airspace scrambled to verify the situation, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre announced.

Lithuanian authorities said the object had not yet been identified.

According to the head of the National Crisis Management Centre, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, the fighter jets scrambled to carry out verifications, while authorities also received reports from residents who claimed to have seen a possible object in the Vilnius area, moving towards Jonava. These reports have not been confirmed.

The National Crisis Management Centre said the object’s parameters were similar to those of a drone, but did not rule out the possibility that the alert had been caused by a flock of birds.

Authorities continued their verifications to determine what triggered the alert.

During the alert, authorities asked residents of the Vilnius region to be prepared to take shelter if necessary.

Vilnius Airport reopened after the alert was lifted, and airport operations resumed.