Lithuania also issued a warning of airspace threat on the morning of the 20th of May, urging residents to seek shelter; traffic at Vilnius airport was also suspended, Reuters reports.
Train services in the Vilnius region were suspended in Lithuania on Wednesday morning, while school and kindergarten teachers were instructed to take children to shelters. The warning was in effect for almost an hour. Vilnius residents were told to go to a safe place, take care of their loved ones and await further instructions.
Train services were restored after the threat was lifted, but a warning is still in effect in some parts of Lithuania.
Members of parliament and ministers who were in the parliament building in Vilnius at the time also received the warning. Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas, who was in an underground bunker when he spoke to Reuters, said the
NATO’s Baltic air policing mission was working to avert the threat.
On Tuesday, the 19th of may, a fighter jet from the NATO’s Baltic air policing mission shot down a drone that had entered Estonian airspace.
Since Ukraine launched long-range drone attacks on Russia, including ports on the Baltic Sea coast, the drones have repeatedly deviated from their course, entering the airspace of Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Lithuania’s State Crisis Management Centre said the alert was issued in response to a drone spotted in Belarusian airspace heading towards Lithuania. The drone’s origin is unknown.
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