NATO Jets Scrambled as Drones Near Baltic Airspace, Prompting Shelter Alerts in Lithuania and Latvia

NATO fighter jets were scrambled overnight after at least four drones strayed into the airspace of the Baltic states during Ukrainian strikes on Russia, officials said on Wednesday. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia issued brief alerts telling residents to seek shelter, and the warnings were lifted hours later. No injuries were reported.

Lithuania’s Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius called it “a difficult night.” One warning covered Kaunas, Lithuania’s second-largest city, home to about 300,000 people. The alerts came as Ukrainian drones attacked Russia’s northwest, where Baltic Sea export facilities and a large oil refinery are located. The strikes set fire to the Ust-Luga port area and injured three people, according to officials cited by Reuters.

Two failed attempts to bring down a drone

Lithuanian forces tried twice to shoot down a drone over northern Lithuania, and both attempts failed, Chief of Defence Staff Giedrius Premeneckas told a news conference. The drone later crossed into Latvia’s airspace. Lithuania’s prime minister said debris from a missile fired by a NATO fighter jet was later found near Birzai.

It is not clear where the drones came from. “We can only assume some of the drones involved in the attack against Russia were diverted by electronic warfare measures, but there is no confirmed information as to whether the drone was Ukrainian or Russian,” Premeneckas said. Moscow has accused Kyiv of using NATO airspace as cover for attacks on Russian territory, while Kyiv says Russian signal jamming sometimes sends its drones off course.

Finland also set temporary curbs

Finland, another neighbor of Russia, set temporary airspace and maritime curbs in the eastern Gulf of Finland on Wednesday, its defense forces said, and withdrew them later in the day. The restrictions were a precaution, the defense forces said, to let the authorities operate and to keep bystanders safe.

The night’s exchanges went beyond the Baltic region. Drone debris killed two people in Russia’s Smolensk region, Russian newswires said, citing the local governor. In Ukraine, an overnight Russian air strike cut power in parts of the industrial city of Kryvyi Rih, injured one person in Kharkiv and six more in Zaporizhzhia, officials and emergency services said. Reuters said it could not confirm those reports on its own.

The alerts came as Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Abu Dhabi for a second day of talks, part of a United States push to end the war. Both Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians, though both treat energy infrastructure as a valid target.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters.