NATO jet based in Lithuania shoots down drone over Latvia, official says

VILNIUS - A NATO air policing jet based in Lithuania intercepted and shot down a foreign drone in Latvia on Friday, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre head Vilmantas Vitkauskas said.

Vitkauskas said the fighter jets were scrambled shortly after 4 a.m. to identify an object that had entered Latvian territory. The drone was identified and successfully destroyed within minutes.

According to Vitkauskas, the incident closely resembled a previous occurrence in May. Lithuanian radars did not detect any threat within the country's own borders at the time.

"This is a very similar episode to the one in May, where operations against legitimate targets in Russia were being conducted and Russian electronic warfare measures diverted this object, which then entered NATO territory," the National Crisis Management Centre head said.

"So far, only that single object was recorded (in Latvia), which changed direction and was diverted toward NATO territory instead of its legitimate target in the Leningrad region," Vitkauskas added.

Later on Friday, Vitkauskas, speaking to reporters, said the object likely entered Latvian airspace from Belarus.

"No other objects entering from Russia or Belarus were detected this morning. (...) According to our information, the object has not yet been located on Latvian territory. It crashed approximately 150 kilometres from the Lithuanian border. We hope that once the wreckage is found, we will be able to determine more about the object itself, its flight path and similar details," Vitkauskas said.

Asked whether Lithuania had observed the incoming drone or its trajectory, Vitkauskas said the radar system used to detect such incidents was integrated. He added that the decision to scramble fighter jets from Siauliai was based on the shared radar data.

Latvian authorities said the drone's position was tracked, although its exact location was not disclosed. An airspace threat alert was issued for five Latvian municipalities at approximately 4 a.m. and ended at 4:50 a.m.

Last week, Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said Russia was considering attacks on critical infrastructure in the Baltic region using Ukrainian drones.