VILNIUS — Lithuania is calling on NATO to help strengthen its air defenses after a drone carrying 2 kilograms of explosives entered the country from Belarus and crashed in a military training area.
Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė and Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys sent a letter to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte to request the deployment of additional, “even experimental,” capabilities on its territory to address air threats, Šakalienė said on Tuesday.
“Since similar incidents are likely to continue as long as Russia’s war against Ukraine goes on, it means we must take additional measures,” she said.
The drone crossed the border on July 28 and took the Lithuanian military nearly a week to locate.
The primary theory, according to authorities, is that Russia directed the drone toward Kyiv but it became disoriented and unintentionally entered Lithuanian airspace. While currently there is “no reason to believe that the drone was deliberately launched into Lithuanian territory, we absolutely must respond to the fullest extent,” Šakalienė said. The investigation is ongoing.
With air attacks on Ukraine intensifying in recent months, the risks of such incidents along the NATO’s eastern border are rising. Similar incidents have been reported in Poland, Romania and Latvia.
Budrys described the situation as “a concern of all NATO,” calling for joint efforts to address “new types of threats.”
“This is not just Lithuanian airspace, not just Lithuania’s security — it is NATO airspace, NATO security and also EU security,” Budrys said.
The drone was the second to cross into Lithuania last month. On July 10, a Russian Gerbera drone crashed about a kilometer inside Lithuania’s territory after entering from Belarus.
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