The President and Prime Minister of Lithuania were urgently taken to underground bunkers while residents of the capital, Vilnius, were advised to seek shelter after a warning was issued following a drone breach of the country’s airspace.
Air and rail traffic in and around the city was suspended after a mobile phone alert saying “seek shelter” was sent out reportedly the first such warning issued in an EU and NATO member state since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Air alert! Immediately go to a shelter or safe place, take care of your family members, and wait for further instructions,” the Defense Ministry’s warning read. The alert was sent around 10:20 a.m. on Wednesday and lasted about an hour.
Schools moved children to designated shelters, while people in offices and residential buildings went down to basements. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė were urgently escorted to bunkers together with cabinet members and lawmakers.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said after the alert that Russia and Belarus were directly responsible for a wave of drone incursions into the airspace of EU and NATO countries in recent weeks.
Russian electronic interference has reportedly been blamed for Ukrainian drones entering Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — all countries bordering Russia. A NATO aircraft shot down a drone over Estonia on Tuesday, while Latvia’s prime minister resigned last week following similar incidents.
“Russia’s public threats against our Baltic states are completely unacceptable,” von der Leyen wrote on social media. “Russia and Belarus bear direct responsibility for drones endangering the lives and security of people on our eastern flank.”
