NATO jets scrambled twice overnight: drones from Belarus violated the airspace of Lithuania and Latvia

Two alerts in one night

NATO fighter jets were scrambled twice during the night after suspected drone incursions triggered air alerts across a significant part of Lithuania, public broadcaster LRT reported on Wednesday, as cited by the Anadolu agency. The first 'yellow' alert was declared at around 23:00 on Tuesday (20:00 GMT) in the Vilnius and Utena regions and was lifted shortly after midnight. The second alert initially covered the Alytus region, then spread to parts of central and northern Lithuania and was upgraded to 'red,' with residents advised to take shelter.

The drone's route and the decision not to shoot it down

According to Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre, in the first incident three drones were initially detected in Belarus, but none entered Lithuanian airspace; one of them later flew into Latvia. In the second incident, a drone is believed to have crossed the border from Belarus near the southern city of Druskininkai, flown north through several regions and left the country's airspace near Pasvalys. Vitkauskas said NATO fighters detected the object but did not shoot it down — possibly due to poor weather or safety considerations.

Impact on aviation and Latvia

The incidents disrupted air traffic: Vilnius and Kaunas airports were temporarily closed. According to Vitkauskas, three flights and more than 400 passengers were affected at Vilnius airport. Early on Wednesday morning, Latvia's National Armed Forces declared an airspace threat warning for a number of municipalities, deploying drone interceptors, air defence units and NATO air patrol aircraft. It remains unclear how many drones were involved, and whether any of them crashed or was shot down.