Belarus warned Latvia and Lithuania of potential drone approaching their airspace - Lithuanian military official

VILNIUS - The Belarusian military informed Latvia and Lithuania about a potential unmanned aerial vehicle heading toward their territory, Lithuanian Land Forces Commander Brigadier General Nerijus Stankevicius said on Wednesday.

"This morning, we received a report from the Belarusian military regarding drones potentially moving into Lithuanian territory; our Latvian neighbors received identical information," Stankevicius told reporters in Vilnius.

He indicated that the suspected drone was detected by both Lithuanian and Latvian military radars, prompting the activation of NATO air policing forces.

In Stankevicius' words, two fighter jets scrambled from the Amari air base in Estonia, with one directed to Lithuania and the other to Latvia.

"First [they were] over the territory of Latvia and then, when we detected signs on radar that (...) a drone was approaching the territory of Lithuania, one of the air policing mission's aircraft was diverted to Lithuania," the general said.

"The mission of the aircraft was to detect and visually identify the drone and destroy it, but the operation ended with no hostile drone detected in the air, and the air policing aircraft aborted the mission and returned to its permanent deployment in Estonia," Stankevicius said.

According to the general, the current location of the object remains unknown-whether it crashed or exited Lithuanian airspace. A search continues, involving an Air Force helicopter and ground forces.

Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Center, previously said the object disappeared from radar screens near the Merkine area.

An air alert was initially issued due to an unmanned aerial vehicle spotted near the eastern border and was later expanded to more regions, including the Vilnius and Alytus districts.

On Wednesday morning, shortly after 9 a.m., a possible threat was detected in Latvian airspace in the municipalities of Ludza, Rezekne, and Kraslava and the city of Rezekne. Within about an hour, the threat was declared over.

No foreign drones were detected in Latvian airspace. An air alert was issued because there was a high probability that an unidentified flying object could enter Latvian airspace, the National Armed Forces (NBS) told LETA.