Lithuania declares alert over drone approaching from Belarus. Vilnius residents shelter. Airport halts operations for an hour.

Source: Lithuanian Ministry of Defense

Lithuania’s Defense Ministry declared a “yellow” alert on the morning of May 20 after a drone approached from Belarus — a level indicating an attack was considered likely, though not the highest, “red” level, which would indicate an attack was underway, the news outlet Delfi reported.

Automatic warnings went out to residents of the Ignalina, Utena, Svencionys, and Zarasai districts, followed by a warning to residents of the Vilnius district — which, according to Delfi, had been upgraded to “red.” Vilnius Airport suspended operations for an hour starting at 10:00 a.m., and city public transit also stopped running.

Evacuations to shelters were carried out in several localities, including Vilnius. Lithuania’s top leaders — President Gitanas Nauseda, Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, and parliament speaker Juozas Olekas — also took shelter.

Развернуть

Lithuania’s Defense Ministry announced that NATO air forces responsible for Baltic airspace security had been scrambled in response to the drone.

By 11:00 a.m., the Lithuanian news outlet Delfi reported, the alert had been lifted.

Drones have repeatedly strayed into the airspace of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland over the past several months. According to Baltic authorities, these were Ukrainian drones that lost their bearings due to Russian electronic warfare. Russia, in turn, accuses the Baltic states of allowing their airspace to be used by Ukrainian drones.

On May 19, a drone that had entered Estonian airspace from Russia was shot down by NATO air forces.

At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.

If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.

To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.

Why is it
important
to support
Meduza
now?Read here

Lithuania declares alert over drone approaching from Belarus. Vilnius residents shelter. Airport halts operations for an hour.

{{ header_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{#is_light}}{{ title }} {{ second_title }}{{/is_light}}{{^is_light}}{{ title }} {{ second_title }}{{/is_light}}

{{ title }}

{{ title }}

{{ title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }}

{{ second_title }}

Lithuania declares alert over drone approaching from Belarus. Vilnius residents shelter. Airport halts operations for an hour.

{{{ alt }}}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{#is_light}}{{ title }} {{ second_title }}{{/is_light}}{{^is_light}}{{ title }} {{ second_title }}{{/is_light}}

{{ title }}

{{ title }}

{{ title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }}

{{ second_title }}