An air raid alert was declared in several parts of Lithuania, including Vilnius, after a “suspicious drone” was spotted, the country’s Ministry of Defense said.
According to the ministry, the drone approached the border from the direction of Belarus.
Air raid alert
Lithuanian forces initially issued a yellow alert, but later a red alert was introduced in Vilnius County. The National Crisis Management Center said that schools and kindergartens had to move children to shelters immediately.
As Delfi reports, residents received emergency notifications urging them to move to safe places. Vilnius airport was temporarily closed, and traffic on the roads came to a halt. According to the outlet, the country’s top officials were moved to shelters, including President Gitanas Nauseda, Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, and Speaker of the Seimas Jozas Olekas.
What local residents say
Konstantin, a resident of Vilnius, told Novaya-Europe that the warnings at first concerned other parts of the country, but a few minutes later he also received a notification from the Defense Ministry on his phone. After that, he went down to an underground parking area with his child.
“My child is two years old, and I do not want to risk his life even in the slightest, and I take these alerts seriously myself. It is better to spend some time than to regret it for the rest of your life,” he said.
Konstantin said that only a few people were in the shelter during the first minutes, while others came down later. About 15 minutes after the alert was announced, the authorities said residents could leave the shelters.
Context
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian drones have periodically entered the territory of the Baltic states. On the evening of May 17, wreckage of a Ukrainian drone was found in the Utena District.