Lithuania sounds air alarm for first time due to suspected drone threat from Belarus

An air alert was issued across parts of Lithuania on May 20 after a suspected drone was detected approaching the country from Belarus, Lithuania's National Defense Ministry reported.

The incident marked the first time Lithuania activated an air alert tied to a suspected aerial incursion, with NATO Baltic Air Policing deploying a fighter jet in response.

Drone activity was recorded near the Belarusian border in eastern Lithuania, but the warning was later extended to the capital, Vilnius, and the surrounding region, Lithuanian broadcaster LRT reported.

The drone crossed the Lithuanian border at approximately 09:40 local time, and radar contact was lost around 11:00. Its exact location and origin remain unknown.

Residents in affected districts received emergency warnings instructing them to seek shelter.

"Air alert! Immediately head to a shelter or a safe space," the Lithuanian military warned the residents, as reported by LRT.

Operations at Vilnius Airport were temporarily suspended during the alert.

Estonian media outlet Delfi reported that Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, and parliament Speaker Jozas Olekas were in a shelter at the moment of a threat.

Zygimantas Pavilionis, a Lithuanian politician, said that the parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee meeting was held in a shelter.

Schools and daycare centers were also instructed by Lithuania's National Crisis Management Center to move children to shelters.

The incident happened amid Belarus-Russian joint nuclear weapons drills, which began on May 18.

The drills, scheduled to run through May 21, involve Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Pacific fleets, the Long-Range Aviation Command, and units from the Leningrad and Central military districts, the ministry said.

The exercises have added significance as they come amid growing warnings from Kyiv that Russia is trying to draw Belarus deeper into its war against Ukraine, while also expanding military infrastructure that could support future Russian operations against Ukraine or NATO's eastern flank.

Drones have become an especially sensitive topic in Baltic states following the crash of a Ukrainian drone into an oil facility in the east of Latvia on May 7, which had been diverted by Russian countermeasures.

A NATO fighter jet shot down a likely Ukrainian drone after it entered Estonian airspace on May 18, with indications that Moscow may have jammed its systems and redirected it toward the country.

That incursion prompted Latvia and Estonia to each issue drone alerts for parts of their territory around noon, with both countries jointly tracking the incursion.

After the May 20 incursion in Lithuania, its State Security Department Director Remigijus Bridikis told reporters that Lithuania's security situation is "sharpening" following recent drone incursions into Baltic airspace.

Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys wrote on X on May 20 that Russia is deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones into Baltic airspace.

"It's a transparent act of desperation — an attempt to sow chaos and distract from a simple reality: Ukraine is hitting the Russian military machine hard," Budrys said.

"My message to the Kremlin: nice try. Failed again."