Ukraine war latest: Lithuania warns of Russian false flag drone threat to Baltic states

Key developments on Aug. 6:

• Russia could use Ukrainian drones in false-flag strike against Baltic infrastructure, Lithuania says
• Drone targeted Ukrainian cargo plane carrying ammunition at German airport, media reports
• Russian drone kills 2 railway workers at station in Kharkiv Oblast
• Ukraine hits 2 Russian oil refineries in latest deep strike drone attack, Zelensky says
• NATO fighter jet scrambles increase 250% as Russia tests border with military planes, Alliance says

Lithuania has intelligence suggesting Russia could use Ukrainian-made drones to carry out false flag-style attacks on critical infrastructure in the Baltic region, the country's Defense Minister Robert Kaunas told local media outlet 15min on Aug. 6.

The statement comes after drone incidents and incursions in all three Baltic states — both from Ukrainian deep-strike drones and suspicious drones likely to be Russian — have raised tensions in the region.

"We have data that Russia is considering unconventional kinetic attacks on critical infrastructure in the Baltic region. Russia is likely to use Ukrainian production drones to do so," said Kaunas.

Just a day earlier, an unidentified first-person view (FPV) drone reportedly attacked a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig airport in Germany.

Over 2026, Ukrainian long-range drones targeting oil infrastructure in Russia's Leningrad Oblast have strayed into the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland.

Likely diverted off course by Russian GPS jamming and spoofing, they have, on several occasions, exploded, such as in March 2026, when Ukrainian drones landed in both Latvia and Estonia in a single night.

Meanwhile, Russia has on several occasions been found using drones to test NATO's response on the alliance's eastern flank, most notably in September 2025, when 21 drones without explosives flew into Polish airspace.

On July 30, Kaunas had warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin was considering escalatory attacks or provocations in the Baltics as advances on the front line in Ukraine were stalling.

According to the Lithuanian defense minister: "Russian society is already asking the regime" why it has thus far failed to achieve a victory in Ukraine while Russia itself faces strikes and fuel shortages.

"The Kremlin, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, needs a new escalation, some kind of new victory, and in this case the Baltic region and Poland are the closest targets," Kaunas told LRT Radio.

Recent weeks saw leaders from both Poland and Lithuania — two NATO nations bordering Moscow's ally Belarus and the heavily armed Russian exclave of Kaliningrad — warn about potential Russian provocations against their countries.

Drone targeted Ukrainian cargo plane carrying ammunition at German airport, media reports

A Ukrainian cargo plane targeted by a drone carrying explosives at Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport was loaded with ammunition at the time of the incident, German media reported on Aug. 6.

Flights at the airport were suspended overnight on Aug. 5 after a "modified drone" was sighted and later found next to a Ukrainian Antonov Airlines An-124 transport aircraft, and a second "unidentified flying object" collided with an incoming DHL cargo plane.

Citing police reports, Suddeutsche Zeitung said the Antonov Airlines plane had been transporting an unspecified type of military ammunition from France to Leipzig, which was still onboard when the drone was found.

The outlet also said the drone was carrying Semtex, a military-grade explosive. Those behind the attempted attack are yet to be identified.

Speaking on Aug. 5, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the incident as a "hybrid attack scenario."

He did not name Russia but the Kremlin has been waging a hybrid war aimed at destabilizing European countries for several years.

"Drone threats, including hybrid threats, are something we are familiar with from the past. However, the fact that a drone — armed with explosives — is on airport property is a new threat scenario," he said.

Suspected Russian-linked drone incidents have repeatedly disrupted airports across Europe, causing flight suspensions and diversions.

Leipzig/Halle Airport has served as a base for Ukraine's Antonov Airlines since shortly after the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion. According to the German outlet Bild, four Ukrainian cargo aircraft were present during the suspected attack.

Russian drone kills 2 railway workers at station in Kharkiv Oblast

A Russian drone struck the railway station of Lozova in Kharkiv Oblast on the morning of Aug. 6, killing two people and injuring eight others, regional authorities and Ukrainian Railways both reported.

A train carriage was struck while at the station, Ukrainian Railways President Oleksandr Pertsovskyi confirmed, adding that the two men killed were both railway workers.

According to Ukrainian Railways, the attack was preceded by an air raid alert that should have given people enough time to move to special shelters installed at the station.

Located near the border with front-line Donetsk Oblast, Lozova has become an important logistical hub for the defense of Ukraine's east.

After trains stopped running to Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast last year, Lozova is now the last stop on the line heading east, making the station a common meeting point for soldiers, volunteers, and residents evacuated from front-line areas.

Ukraine hits 2 Russian oil refineries in latest deep strike drone attack, Zelensky says

Ukrainian drones struck two oil refineries deep inside Russian territory overnight on Aug. 6, including a large refinery in Yaroslavl Oblast hit for the second night in a row, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed after reports first emerged in local media.

Videos emerging online the morning after showed a large-scale fire at the Slavneft-Yanos oil refinery in Yaroslavl, over 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Footage shared by Yaroslavl residents on Aug. 6 showed plumes of smoke rising over the city during an overnight drone attack. The independent Russian Telegram news channel Astra analyzed the footage using geolocation and determined that the Slavneft-Yanos refinery was on fire.

Another smaller refinery was hit further east in Russia's Bashkortostan Republic, Zelensky reported, over 1,300 kilometers from the front line.

"Today, our long-range sanctions once again worked to limit Russia’s oil revenues, which it uses to finance the war and the killing of Ukrainians," the president wrote on Facebook.

NATO fighter jet scrambles increase 250% as Russia tests border with military planes, Alliance says

NATO fighter jets were scrambled over twice as many times in July 2026 as they were during the same period last year, the NATO Allied Joint Force Command in Eastern and Central Europe reported on Aug. 5.

The report follows an uptick in unregistered Russian military flights near NATO's eastern border.

"Compare July 25 with July 26 and the picture is impossible to ignore: Alpha Scrambles along NATO'sEastern Flank increased by more than 250%," the Alliance said.

"The reason? Russian military aircraft repeatedly flew close to NATO airspace without a flight plan and transponder signal, leaving our fighters to launch, intercept, and identify them."

NATO countries regularly dispatch fighter jets in response to suspicious Russian military activity.

The latest report comes a week after Poland's Air Force launched fighter jets on July 31 to intercept a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea without a flight plan. No violation of Poland's airplace occurred during the incident, authorities said.

The Russian Ilyushin Il-20, derived from the Soviet-era Il-18 transport plane, is used for electronic surveillance and reconnaissance operations. The aircraft is equipped with radar and signal intelligence systems designed to gather information on military infrastructure and communications networks.

Poland has described these incidents as  "provocations" and acts of aggression meant to test the country's air defenses.

Multiple nations bordering the Baltic Sea have reported similar encounters this summer.

"Every scramble proves that we are alert," the Alliance said on Aug. 5. "Every interception proves that NATO airspace is protected."