Lithuanian authorities announced Sunday they had found a suspected Ukrainian military drone that had crashed in the north of the country, a new incident illustrating the growing risks of the war between Russia and Ukraine for the Baltic states that are NATO members.
According to Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre, the drone was discovered in the village of Samane, located about 55 kilometers from Belarus and 40 kilometers from the Latvian border.
The head of the center, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, indicated that the aircraft was not detected when it entered Lithuanian airspace and that it was not carrying explosives.
Ukraine has not officially reacted to this announcement. Kyiv regularly claims that some drones launched against Russian military targets are diverted from their trajectory due to Russian electronic jamming.
Meanwhile, the Latvian military reported that a drone alert had been triggered on Sunday along its border with Russia. NATO fighter jets participating in the Baltic air policing mission were dispatched to the area.
For several months, drones linked to the Ukrainian conflict have occasionally entered the airspace of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, fueling security concerns in this border region with Russia and Belarus.
In early May, two drones crashed into an oil storage facility in Latvia, causing a fire. The incident contributed to a political crisis that led to the fall of the Latvian government a few days later.
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