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A drone alert sent by Lithuania's Defense Ministry to residents of the capital city Vilnius on Wednesday briefly brought transport to a standstill, causing people to flee to underground shelters.
A day earlier, an Estonian fighter jet shot down a drone approaching the airspace. Estonian Defense Minister noted that it was most likely a Ukrainian drone that had been launched at a target in Russia, as reported by the local news site Delfi.
The Lithuanian defense minister later confirmed that no incidents were recorded in the country's airspace, according to local media.
Such alerts have become increasingly common across the Baltic states in recent months, driven by intensified Ukrainian strikes against Russian targets in the Saint Petersburg region near Estonia and Finland.
But Wednesday's alarm was the first of its kind in an EU and NATO member country since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. It triggered an order for the population, including the president, prime minister, and MPs, to take shelter.
Last year, political leaders were ushered into bunkers following a drone alert, but not the general population.
The alert came at around 10:20 am local time (07:20 GMT) on mobile phones: "Air raid alert! Go immediately to a shelter or a safe place, take care of your family members, and wait for further instructions."
Immediately, in offices and apartment buildings, civilians went down into basements or designated shelters, according to an AFP correspondent.
"I got dressed and went down to the basement," photographer Andrej Vasilenko, who was in his apartment when the alert sounded, told AFP.
"I was alone, no other residents of the building were there.
"My child was at school and had gone down into a shelter, so I felt reassured. It was strange, but at the same time, so many people in Ukraine have been living with this for four years."
President Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, as well as lawmakers, were taken to shelters, their offices told the BNS news agency.
Flights at Vilnius International Airport were suspended, while trains were brought to a halt.
The army said a radar signal had been detected in the Belarusian airspace "with characteristics typical of an unmanned aerial vehicle." NATO air-policing mission was activated, according to the military.
Vilmantas Vitkauskas, the head of the National Crisis Management Center, told public radio LRT that a drone had been spotted "in the Vilnius district," without elaborating on its fate.
The alert, which also applied to Lithuanian regions bordering Belarus, was lifted over an hour later, and people were told they could leave the shelters.
The government came under heavy criticism for failing to alert its citizens following earlier drone incursions from Belarus.
Several Russian or Ukrainian drones have crashed in Lithuania, as well as in Estonia and Latvia, though they have not caused serious damage or casualties.
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