🔶 Vilnius airport in Lithuania shut after a drone threat; NATO moves in

According to Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre, Vilnius International Airport, the capital of the country, was closed on Sunday, September 13, following the possible sighting of a drone in Lithuania’s airspace today.

Reuters reported that after becoming aware of the possible presence of a drone in Lithuania’s airspace, NATO launched at least one of its fighter jets to take off in order to examine and counter the threat.

The Lithuanian National Crisis Management Centre said that a fighter jet was dispatched from the Siauliai Air Base in northern Lithuania, where Italy’s air force is currently deployed as part of NATO air defense mission in the Baltic region.

Reuters, citing the organizers of the Vilnius marathon taking place in the capital, said the event was neither halted nor disrupted after these events.

Countries along NATO’s eastern border have reported that a series of drones, in connection with the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, have inadvertently entered their airspace.