- WIADOMOŚCI
Ukrainian drone in Lithuania. It 'flew in from Poland'
Lithuanian authorities maintain the position that a drone, which entered Lithuanian airspace on Sunday morning and crashed in the north of the country, crossed the border from Poland. The National Security Advisor to the President of Lithuania, Deividas Matulionis, stated that the Lithuanian side possesses „substantiated data” confirming such a flight path. The Polish Ministry of Defence previously reported that national radar systems do not confirm the border crossing from Poland to Lithuania.
On Sunday, Lithuanian radars detected an object moving from the direction of Poland towards the north. Consequently, air alerts were announced in the central and northern parts of the country. As part of the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission, Italian Eurofighter jets were scrambled; however, they were unable to visually identify the object due to difficult weather conditions. The alerts were cancelled after approximately one hour.
The wreckage of the unmanned aerial vehicle was found near the village of Juodžionys in the Pasvalys District – approximately 10 km from the border with Latvia and over 200 km from the border with Poland. Debris damaged a civilian car; no one was injured. Lithuanian authorities determined that it was a Ukrainian FP-1 type drone. The Lithuanian Minister of Defence, Robertas Kaunas, assessed that the aircraft was taking part in a Ukrainian attack on targets in the Saint Petersburg region and veered off course as a result of Russian electronic warfare systems. Ukraine expressed its regret over the incident.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius emphasised that the data indicates the drone entered the country through the Schengen Area, from Poland. In a conversation with the BNS agency, Matulionis stated unequivocally: „We have substantiated data that the drone crossed the Polish border.” He did not, however, disclose the details of this data. He also critically addressed unofficial reports from Polsat News, according to which the drone allegedly took off from Lithuanian territory approximately 30 km from the border with Poland. The presidential advisor noted that Lithuania has not yet received official information from the Polish side and warned against disinformation.
The spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of National Defence, Janusz Sejmej, previously stated that „in the Lithuanian direction, there is no confirmation of the border being crossed from Poland into Lithuania.” The Lithuanian side is proposing a joint investigation into the incident and remains in contact with the Polish Ministry of Defence.
