Lithuania’s police officers neutralised a combat drone that crashed in the northern Utena district in a controlled explosion, authorities announced on Monday afternoon.
“A decision was taken to neutralise the explosives on site, as transporting them would pose a risk to the public,” law enforcement authorities said in a statement.
Earlier on Monday, the police said the drone, believed to be Ukrainian, was carrying carrying explosives and will be neutralised at the site.
A local police representative also said the drone debris was found by a resident mowing his lawn.
“He noticed the wreckage and contacted police officers. He reached out for consultation, and the officers immediately understood that it could be a crashed drone,” said Mindaugas Puskunigis, Deputy Chief of the Utena County Police.
Search resumed in the morning
The search for the crashed drone debris was suspended overnight but resumed in the morning, National Crisis Management Centre chief Vilmantas Vitkauskas said earlier on Monday.
Police and ARAS counter-terrorism officers are on site collecting fragments to determine the drone’s trajectory, direction and objectives.
According to Vilkauskas, key questions remain regarding how the drone entered Lithuania, its flight altitude, and potential gaps in airspace surveillance.
Further reading
He said no explosives have been found so far. Residents reported the unmanned aerial vehicle after 19:00 on Sunday.
“No explosion was recorded, either in resident reports or during the inspection; it appears there were no explosives,” Vitkauskas said.
The National Security Commission, chaired by Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė, is scheduled to discuss the gathered intelligence and further actions on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General’s Office has merged the investigation into this incident with a pre-trial probe into Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
Officials suspect the aircraft is a Ukrainian drone.
In March, a Ukrainian military drone also crashed in Lithuania’s southeastern Varėna district near the Belarusian border, which authorities said had veered off course due to Russian electronic warfare measures. Similar incidents have become more frequent in the Baltic region in recent months.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda warned warring parties this week against using Lithuanian territory for drone strikes, saying this would constitute a gross violation of sovereignty and international law.
Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys stated that the warning was linked to suspicions regarding the potential intentional use of Lithuanian territory in the future.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
