NATO fighter jet shoots down drone over Lithuania
Debris of what the Lithuanian National Crisis Management Centre says is a drone shot down by a NATO fighter jet lies on the ground near Pratkunai, Lithuania, on Tuesday in this screengrab from a handout video. (Lithuanian Army/Reuters)Social SharingAn Italian NATO fighter jet shot down a drone over Lithuania shortly after midnight on Tuesday morning, the Lithuanian National Crisis Management Centre said.
The drone, which was likely to have entered from Belarus, was shot down near Pratkunai village in southern Lithuania, near Kaunas, the second-largest city, the centre's spokesperson said. Its origin had yet to be determined, he said.
Military drones straying into the airspace of Russia's neighbours have stoked concerns that Russia's war in Ukraine is spilling over NATO's borders.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that strikes close to the alliance's territory would drive the trans-Atlantic organization to increase its support for Kyiv. Rutte also pledged to bolster the 32-nation alliance's own defences along its long eastern border with Russia.
Officials did not say whether the drone was believed to be Ukrainian or Russian. In recent months, Ukrainian drones have repeatedly entered NATO airspace in the Baltic region. Kyiv says they were steered off course by Russian signal jamming.
A drone alert was issued earlier in the capital Vilnius and surrounding region.
The Lithuanian army shared video from the site of the crash, showing debris scattered in grass. Some of the parts appeared to be made from wood and some appeared charred.
Fighters with the NATO Baltic Air Defence mission have patrolled the skies of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia since the Baltic countries joined the alliance in 2004. The mission's jets shot down stray Ukrainian drones over Estonia in May, and over Latvia in June and August.
Separately, Denmark said a Russian frigate fired two flares towards a Danish military helicopter on Monday. Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called the incident "unacceptable" and said it could have endangered human lives.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the incident was serious but not surprising, calling it part of a pattern in which an increasingly aggressive Russia has intensified its hybrid warfare against Europe and is testing NATO.
The Russian Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Baltic Sea region is on high alert after incidents involving gas pipeline outages, airspace violations and drone sightings.
Russia has dismissed accusations over such incidents and repeatedly denied carrying out hybrid attacks in Europe.
In fighting on Tuesday, a Russian drone attack killed one person and knocked out power in parts of the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine, the acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin said.
As well, the regional governor of Odesa, Oleh Kiper, said that Russia hit port infrastructure in Ukraine's southern Black Sea region overnight, with residential buildings, logistics facilities and transport infrastructure coming under attack.
Russian forces hit a cargo ship and a ferry carrying military supplies in Ukraine's port of Chornomorsk, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday posted on social media that Russia and Ukraine had agreed "not to hit" each other's energy infrastructure. He had earlier called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop targeting Russian diesel infrastructure, saying the attacks were causing a shortage of the fuel that is "hurting the world."
Trump didn't offer further details on the purported agreement.
Zelenskyy said late Monday that Kyiv was "ready to support de-escalation," but expressed doubts Russia would adhere to such a demand.
