A night of alerts in Lithuania and Latvia: NATO fighters miss a drone, a missile falls near Birzai

A NATO fighter’s missile that missed its target and fell in a rural area of northern Lithuania, a drone that crossed three countries without being shot down and airports under restrictions: that is the toll of the night from Tuesday, November 10 to Wednesday, November 11 in the Baltic. The head of Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, called it the most turbulent night in the country’s history.

The chain of events began at around 21:30 local time, when Lithuanian authorities were alerted to weather balloons, used for cigarette smuggling from Belarus. About ten such tracks appeared on radar and landings in Vilnius and Kaunas were restricted, with three flights and about 470 passengers affected. Near 23:00 the first alert was declared for the Vilnius and Utena regions: three unmanned aircraft were moving over Belarus northwards, without entering Lithuania.

A missile at Birzai, “not over a city”

The fourth drone crossed from Belarus into Lithuania around 01:20, near Druskininkai. It briefly entered Polish airspace, changed course abruptly and headed north. The Chief of Defence of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, Rear Admiral Giedrius Premeneckas, explained to journalists at the government building that the aircraft was spotted visually within the limits of Kaunas. “It could not be shot down because it was an urban area and we wanted to avoid debris damage,” he said. When it moved away towards Panevezys, the fighters of the NATO air policing mission had two opportunities, which did not succeed. One missile missed and fell in the Birzai area.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius confirmed on Facebook that debris of a NATO fighter’s missile was found near Birzai and that in total four unmanned aircraft and dozens of balloon tracks were recorded. Police activated the “Shield” plan at 03:55 and the “Aras” counter-terrorism unit reached the site. The type and origin of the drone have not been identified. Premeneckas did not rule out that it was a Ukrainian aircraft that strayed because of electronic warfare, the same night Ukrainian drones hit the port of Ust-Luga on the Baltic, but stressed that this is a hypothesis. Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas was more categorical, assessing that the drones were most probably Ukrainian, aimed at Ust-Luga and other points in Russia, and deviated from their course.

The sequel in Latvia

The sequel was written in Latvia. The Latvian National Armed Forces announced that three drones entered the airspace overnight: two crossed the eastern border for a minute or two and the third came from Lithuania and crossed the country from south to north. Interceptor drones, air defence units and NATO fighters were activated, but, according to the Latvian army, appropriate operational conditions for a shoot-down did not form, while the safety of civilians was also weighed. The drone passed into Estonia, where contact with sensors was lost. Alerts sounded in a series of Latvian municipalities, from Ludza to Cesis, while Riga notes that the interceptor-drone units are for now only on the eastern border.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda warned that, as long as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, drone intrusions may recur. They had been preceded by the October alert over Vilnius with a drone from Belarus and the successive alerts in Latvia in early November. Sinkevičius promised a thorough investigation, while Vitkauskas called “an absolute lie” the claims circulating online that Lithuania allows Ukrainian drones to use its airspace for attacks on Russia.