Breach of EU airspace by drone causes alarm as Russia renews airstrikes on Ukraine

An unidentified military drone entered EU airspace in the early hours of Monday, most likely from Belarus, Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT has reported, as Russia launched a fresh overnight barrage of drones at targets in Ukraine.

Residents of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius were texted alerts from the emergency services early on Monday morning about an incoming drone flying at an altitude of approximately 200 metres. The Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence later told LRT that the authorities were working to locate the drone, which they said had likely come down at an unknown location. No casualties or damage were reported.

The report came as the Ukrainian Air Force announced a fresh series of overnight Russian drone strikes, in which 324 drones were launched at targets in Ukraine, of which 309 were intercepted. Eight people, among them a three-year-old child, were injured in strikes on the capital Kyiv, according to city mayor Vitaliy Klitschko.

Footage of the drone flying over Vilnius that was shared by an anonymous Facebook user, led news portal Delfi to conclude that the drone was either a Shahed combat drone or a Gerbera drone, often used as a decoy in Russian airstrikes.

Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė said that “more drones” could be expected to find their way into the country’s airspace during the joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises due to be held in Belarus in mid-September.

While Belarus initially agreed to move the drills away from the country’s border with the EU to “ease tensions in the region”, the country’s Chief of General Staff Pavel Muraveyko said on Thursday that Russia and Belarus “reserved the right” to relocate some units closer to the country’s border with NATO during the drills.

Another drone entered Lithuanian airspace from Belarus in early July, though the Lithuanian authorities later confirmed that it “looked like a homemade object”, carried no payload and would have posed no danger to the public, LRT reported.