Lithuanian lawmakers were forced to shelter underground on Wednesday and air traffic at Vilnius airport was temporarily suspended after a drone violated the country's airspace, the latest in a series of security incidents in the Baltic region.
The Nato and European Union member state also suspended train traffic around the capital Vilnius, while schools and kindergartens were told to take children to shelters. "Immediately take shelter in a safe place, take care of your close ones, await new recommendations," Lithuania's army said in an alert sent to people in the capital Vilnius.
An alert was also issued in the Vilnius parliament building, where parliamentarians and ministers were in attendance.
Speaking to Reuters at an underground shelter, Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said that military aircraft were seeking to neutralise the threat.
"The Nato Air Policing Mission is activated and targeting a drone detected in Lithuanian airspace," Kaunas said. The drone had come from Latvia, Kaunas later said. It was not known whether it had crashed or had left Lithuania, authorities said. Nato fighter jets were unable to locate it.
The incident lasted about an hour and the air warning has since been lifted. Air and train traffic have resumed.
LATEST IN A SERIES OF INCIDENTS
The alert came a day after a Nato fighter jet shot down a suspected Ukrainian drone over Estonia. Ukraine has stepped up long-range drone attacks on Russia, including around the Baltic Sea. Since March, several Ukrainian military drones have strayed into the airspace of Nato members Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which all border Russia.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance's response to the Estonia incident had been "calm, decisive and proportionate."
"If drones come from Ukraine, they are not there because Ukraine wanted to send a drone to Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia. They are there because of the reckless, illegal full-scale attack of Russia," he told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday.
Some Nato members warned that a more forceful response could be taken, with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying that "the Ukrainian-Russian war may soon lead to a situation where we will have to react firmly."
The Latvian government last week resigned over its handling of the incursions.
The Baltic countries, all strong backers of Ukraine, have blamed the drone incidents on Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military was closely monitoring the situation regarding drones flying through the Baltic states' airspace, and was formulating an appropriate response, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.
Reuters