NATO jets shoot down drone over Lithuania as alliance warns Russia against strikes

NATO fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace overnight, Lithuanian officials said on Tuesday, marking the first time a drone has been brought down over the NATO member's territory.

The drone was intercepted near the village of Pratkunai, about 100 km west of the capital Vilnius and close to the Kaunas Reservoir, according to Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre.

Authorities have not determined the drone's origin or purpose, saying the incident remains under investigation.

Antanas Matutis, commander of the Lithuanian Air Force, said wreckage had been recovered and that the drone was “likely” carrying explosives. Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the country's crisis centre, said it most likely entered Lithuania from Belarus and remained in Lithuanian airspace for about 30 minutes.

The drone flew along the outskirts of populated areas before it was intercepted, Vitkauskas told Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT.

Lithuania, which borders Belarus and Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, has repeatedly faced concerns over drone activity. In May, residents of Vilnius were told to take shelter and the country's president and prime minister were moved to secure locations amid an alert over drone activity near the Belarus border.

Stray Ukrainian drones have also previously entered Baltic airspace. In May, a NATO fighter jet shot down a Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia.

The latest incident came a day after NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned that strikes close to alliance territory would only strengthen NATO's support for Ukraine.

Rutte said attacks “close to NATO territory” demonstrated Russian President Vladimir Putin's “desperation and also his desire to sow fear and terror”.

“Russia is growing increasingly reckless as it continues its terrible war against Ukraine,” Rutte said, while pledging to strengthen NATO's defences along its eastern border with Russia and Belarus.

Tensions also rose elsewhere in the Baltic region on Tuesday. Denmark's Foreign Ministry said a Danish air force helicopter had been fired upon with flares while carrying out routine photographic surveillance of a Russian frigate near the port of Gedser.

“This is completely unacceptable,” the ministry said on X, adding that Russia's ambassador had been summoned.

Fighting continues in Ukraine

Russian drone strikes continued across Ukraine despite US President Donald Trump's claim on Monday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed not to target each other's energy infrastructure.

Trump provided no details of the reported understanding, and Russia did not immediately comment. Previous attempts to establish even limited ceasefires have repeatedly collapsed, with Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of violations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was “ready to support de-escalation” if Washington could establish that Russia was genuinely prepared to end the war.

However, Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Russian forces continued to attack Ukraine's energy sector, logistics and critical infrastructure. He said Ukrainian forces had responded by striking an oil refinery in Syzran in western Russia.

Ukraine's State Emergency Service said Russian strikes on Kyiv had killed one person and wounded seven others, including in attacks on petrol stations. Two other people were killed in separate Russian strikes on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had shot down 222 Ukrainian drones overnight.

A “massive” Ukrainian drone attack also caused fires and damage in the Russian city of Taganrog, according to regional Governor Yuri Slyusar. He said two apartment buildings, three private homes, an educational institution and other facilities were damaged.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had targeted a drone production facility in the city.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's parliament voted to dismiss Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko. He resigned on 7 September amid a National Anti-Corruption Bureau investigation into alleged corruption in his office, although no notice of suspicion had been issued against him.

Kravchenko had been prosecutor general since June 2025. The corruption investigations come as Ukraine continues its fight against Russia's full-scale invasion, now in its fifth year.