Lithuania tells Vilnius residents to seek shelter after drone spotted near border

Lithuanian authorities issued an air alert in multiple regions, including the Vilnius region, after a “suspicious drone” was spotted on Wednesday, according to the country’s Defense Ministry.

The ministry said the aircraft approached the border from the direction of Belarus.

The Lithuanian military initially issued a lower-level yellow alert, but later escalated to a red alert, with the country’s national crisis management centre calling for schools and kindergartens to bring children to shelters immediately.

According to Baltic news outlet Delfi, residents received phone notifications telling them to take cover. Vilnius Airport was temporarily closed and public transport service was suspended. The country’s top government officials were also taken to shelters, including President Gitanas Nausėda, Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė, and Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas.

A Vilnius resident named Konstantin told Novaya Gazeta Europe that when he received the alert on his phone, he immediately took his child to an underground parking garage.

“I have a two-year-old, and I don’t want there to be even a minimal risk to his life. Plus I take these alerts seriously myself — better to lose some time than to spend the rest of your life with regrets,” he explained.

Konstantin noted that for the first few minutes, there were only a few other people in the shelter, but it gradually filled with more. After about 15 minutes, the authorities announced that it was safe to leave the shelters.

Drones have repeatedly entered the Baltic countries’ airspace since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Two days before Wednesday’s air raid alert, debris from a Ukrainian drone was found in the country’s eastern Utenos country.