An Italian NATO jet shot down a drone over Lithuania after it entered the country’s airspace from Belarus, with the country’s defence minister saying the unmanned aircraft ‘most probably’ came from Russia, according to Defense News.
The drone crossed into Lithuanian airspace after midnight and was downed near the southern village of Pratkunai, not far from the city of Kaunas. Vilnius airport was closed as a precaution and reopened within 38 minutes, after a jet made a visual identification, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre said.
Italian NATO jet Lithuania drone: second interception in a month
Two Italian Eurofighter F-2000 fighter jets, operating as part of NATO’s Baltic Task Force, carried out the intercept during the night, Breaking Defense reported. The outlet said the incident marked the second interception of this kind in a month, underlining the pace at which NATO is being drawn into responding to drone incursions along its north-eastern flank.
The jets were scrambled from Siauliai, in northern Lithuania, where the Italian air force is based as part of the NATO Baltic Air Defence mission. Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre noted that on initial radar readings, marks left by birds and drones can appear similar, a caveat that explains why a visual identification was required before the alert was stood down.
Scale of the airspace threat
The scale of the problem facing Lithuanian authorities is considerable. Breaking Defense reported that in 2025 alone, around 600 balloons linked to smuggling and nearly 200 drones crossed into Vilnius airspace, figures that illustrate the sustained pressure on the country’s air defences even before the current episode.
Military drones straying into the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have stoked concerns that the war in Ukraine is spilling over into NATO’s northern borders with Russia. Belarus, a close Russian ally, shares a border with Lithuania, making it a potential transit route for drones originating further east.
The incident follows a similar event in August, when a NATO F-18 fighter jet on an air policing mission shot down a drone that unlawfully entered Romanian airspace. That aircraft was initially detected by radar as it crossed into Romanian territory from neighbouring Moldova, 24 km north of the south-eastern city of Galati. Romania’s defence ministry did not specify the drone’s origin, but NATO representatives suggested a Russian link.
Romania, a NATO member with a 614 km (381 miles) land border with Ukraine, has recorded numerous airspace incursions by Russian drones over the past four years, alongside floating sea mines threatening key Black Sea shipping and energy routes.
Russian airspace violations over Lithuania
NATO was also forced to scramble jets in response to Russian violations of Lithuanian airspace in October last year. Two Russian military aircraft, an Su-30 fighter jet and an Il-78 refuelling tanker, flew over the NATO member state for approximately 18 seconds, prompting a formal reaction from the alliance. They were possibly on a refuelling training mission, the military said.
Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda condemned that incursion directly. ‘I strongly condemn the violation of Lithuanian airspace by the fighter jet and transport plane of the Russian Federation from a Kaliningrad region site,’ he said. Russia’s defence ministry denied the incident and said none of its Su-30 jets training in the Kaliningrad region violated the territory of any country.
The Italian NATO jet Lithuania drone shootdown marks an escalation from the earlier sighting that triggered the airport closure, with authorities now confirming the aircraft was destroyed rather than simply tracked and identified before dispersing.
