NATO fighter aircraft intercepted and destroyed a drone after it entered Lithuanian airspace overnight, officials said Tuesday. The incident came less than 24 hours after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned that strikes near alliance territory could prompt the trans-Atlantic bloc to expand its support for Kyiv.
The drone was brought down near Pratkūnai village in the Kaišiadorys district, roughly 60 miles west of Vilnius and close to the Kaunas Reservoir, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center said.
Lithuanian military officials said it was the first known instance of a drone being shot down inside the country’s airspace.
Authorities have not identified where the drone came from or explained its mission, stressing that the circumstances remain under investigation.
The airspace violation occurred shortly after Rutte spoke at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday. He said strikes “close to NATO territory” reflected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “desperation and also his desire to sow fear and terror.”
“Russia is growing increasingly reckless as it continues its terrible war against Ukraine,” Rutte said. He also promised to strengthen the 32-member alliance’s defenses along its long eastern frontier with Russia.
Drone ‘likely’ to be carrying explosives
Drone-related security concerns have repeatedly affected Lithuania, which borders Belarus, a close Russian ally, as well as Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.
Antanas Matutis, the Lithuanian air force commander, said authorities had recovered debris from the aircraft. He added that the drone “likely” contained explosives.
Vilmantas Vitkauskas, who leads Lithuania’s crisis center, told public broadcaster LRT that the drone most likely crossed into the country from Belarus. It reportedly spent about 30 minutes in Lithuanian airspace, traveling along the edges of populated areas before NATO aircraft intercepted it.
Kyiv says it’s ‘ready to support de-escalation’
At the same time, Russian drone attacks continued across Ukraine, despite a Monday social media post from U.S. President Donald Trump claiming that Moscow and Kyiv had agreed not to target each other’s energy infrastructure.
Trump provided no additional details about the reported understanding, and Russia had not immediately responded to his statement. Earlier attempts to arrange even limited ceasefires have repeatedly collapsed within hours, with both sides accusing the other of breaking the terms.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Monday that Kyiv was “ready to support de-escalation.”
“We see that the Russians feel the pressure from our precise strikes on Russia’s war economy. And so far, no one has seen any genuine desire on Russia’s part to move toward ending the war,” he said. “But if our American partners can ensure that Russia is genuinely ready to stop this war aimed at destroying life — and to do so for real and for the long term — Ukraine will take its own de-escalatory steps.”
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported Tuesday that eight people had been injured in Russian attacks on Kyiv since the beginning of the day. Two of the wounded were hurt in strikes targeting gas stations in the capital.
In a separate statement, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had intercepted and destroyed 222 Ukrainian drones overnight.
A “massive” Ukrainian drone attack sparked several fires in the Russian city of Taganrog, regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said. He said on Telegram that two apartment buildings and three private homes had been damaged, as well as an educational institution, agricultural warehouses and a site belonging to Russian e-retailer Ozon.
