Alarm As Unidentified Drone Enters NATO Airspace

Newsweek

7 days ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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An unidentified drone suspected to have come from Belarus entered into Lithuanian airspace on Monday, according a local outlet.
Darius Buta, a representative of Lithuania's National Crisis Management Center, told public broadcaster LRT that a drone was spotted at an altitude of approximately 650 feet near the capital city of Vilnius.
"This morning, residents received reports about a drone that most likely flew into the territory of Lithuania from Belarus," Buta told the outlet. "Police have activated all forces."
Newsweek has contacted the Belarusian and Lithuanian foreign ministries via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but borders several nations, such as Lithuania, that are. Article 5 states that an attack on any NATO member would be treated like an attack on them all.
In this instance, it does not appear as if Lithuania was attacked, and no injuries have been reported as of time of writing. Still, the drone incident highlights NATO members' proximity to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
What To Know
A Russian drone attacking a building in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 17, 2025.
A Russian drone attacking a building in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 17, 2025.
Efrem Lukatsky, File/AP Photo
Residents first reported the drone at approximately 5:55 a.m. local time, per LRT. It sounded "like that in Ukraine where drones fly, a rumbling sound," one resident told the outlet.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė told LRT that the drone may have been one intended for Ukraine, jammed by Kyiv's air defenses.
Ukraine's Air Force has said it stopped 309 of 324 attack drones and decoys launched against Ukraine overnight on Monday. One of the drones hit an apartment building in Kyiv, injuring a 3-year-old child and seven other people, per the Kyiv Independent.
Lithuanian outlet BNS reported that Vilnius would be adding more defenses to its border following this drone incident, with Šakalienė telling reporters: "We will take additional steps to ensure more effective border monitoring in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and we will use additional military forces for this."
She added that there are "no indications" that this drone incident was deliberate.
Šakalienė told the media that Belarus is hosting joint Russian and Belarusian military exercises in mid-September for an anticipated 13,000 troops, which could increase the number of cross-border incidents.
Russia and Belarus, which borders Ukraine as well as Lithuania, make up the Union State and its leaders signed in late 2024 in Minsk a treaty, which Putin said would allow both countries to use "all available forces and means" as part of the countries' mutual defense obligations.
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka was reelected to his seventh term in January 2025, in an election deemed a sham by Western governments.
Fragments of Russian drone and debris on the ground after an airstrike on Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 7, 2025.
Fragments of Russian drone and debris on the ground after an airstrike on Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 7, 2025.
Andrii Marienko/AP Photo
What People Are Saying
Lithuanian Defense MinisterDovilė Šakalienė told LRT: "Without a doubt, on the one hand, it is really very gratifying that the Ukrainian defense is able to disorient drones that are moving towards them, but those drones with burned brains can wander into all territories, they will, of course, wander into ours and Poland, and cause various consequences."
Darius Buta, a representative of Lithuania's National Crisis Management Center told LRT: "There is currently no reliable information about the threat posed by this object. We are trying to find where the drone is, where it may have fallen."
What Happens Next
An investigation into the drone is ongoing.