Crashed Ukrainian drone found in Lithuania
Residents near the village of Samane in Lithuania’s northeastern Utena district found a Ukrainian drone in a field, the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported, citing the Crisis Management Center.
Lithuanian authorities said they received word of the downed drone at around 7 p.m. local time on May 17. The drone did not explode on impact.
Lithuanian radars had not detected the drone earlier that day, the armed forces said. Local residents reported the crash.
Crisis Management Center head Vilmantas Vitkauskas said authorities intend to determine how the drone entered Lithuania, at what altitude it was flying, and what gaps exist in their detection system.
How the drone entered Lithuanian airspace remains unclear. LRT suggested Russian electronic warfare systems may have diverted it from its course, as has happened in similar incidents.
The day before, a Ukrainian drone had entered the airspace of neighboring Latvia, where it lingered before leaving Latvian territory.
In recent months, drones have increasingly been entering the airspace of Northern European countries. According to the Finnish outlet Iltalehti, Russia’s armed forces are using electronic warfare systems to try to alter the flight paths of Ukrainian drones, redirecting them toward Finland or the Baltic states.
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