Lithuanian officials said the explosive-laden drone crashed after entering from Polish airspace. Poland has said it is examining the circumstances surrounding a Ukrainian drone carrying explosives that crashed in Lithuania, after officials in Vilnius insisted it had entered the country from Polish airspace. The drone exploded in Lithuania's northern Pasvalys district on Sunday, damaging a civilian car. No injuries were reported. Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius said on Monday that the aircraft was a Ukrainian first-person view (FPV) drone carrying explosives and that Lithuanian surveillance systems had recorded it entering from Poland. “There is no doubt that the drone entered (...) from Poland,” he said following a government security meeting. According to Lithuania's military, the drone was first detected over Poland at 4:47 a.m. Polish time, some 30–40 kilometers from the Lithuanian border, before crossing into Lithuania about 15 minutes later. However, Poland's Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its radar systems had not confirmed the drone crossing into Lithuania from Polish airspace. Lithuanian officials said that NATO fighter jets were scrambled, but the pilots were unable to establish visual contact with the drone because of poor weather conditions. Military told to come up with answers Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Monday that several scenarios were being examined and that he expected the military to provide an explanation. He told reporters in Poland that investigators were also considering the possibility that the aircraft had been used for smuggling. However, he added that the latest information indicated the drone was Ukrainian. “The Ukrainian side has apologized to the Lithuanian side. I am in contact with Lithuania's defense minister over this matter,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said, referring to Robertas Kaunas. The incident is the latest drone incursion into a country on NATO’s eastern flank and comes amid heightened concerns in Poland and the Baltics of spillover from Russia’s war on Ukraine. Russian sabotage suspected The drone incident came as Lithuanian authorities investigated an attempted arson attack at a Starlink satellite communications station near Vilnius on Sunday, which they linked to Russian sabotage operations. “We understand that this was not a routine arson attack but an act of sabotage,” said Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre. He linked the incident to similar attacks in Poland and Bulgaria, saying they were part of Russian efforts to disrupt Starlink communications used by Ukraine's military. Lithuania and Poland, both of which border Moscow-aligned Belarus and Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, have been on heightened alert since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
