- Published
Nato fighter pilots have shot down a drone that entered Lithuania's airspace overnight, the Lithuanian president said.
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president → publish → airspace
Authorities said the drone likely entered southern Lithuania, near the second-largest city of Kaunas, from neighbouring Belarus shortly after midnight on Tuesday.
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drone → say → Tuesday
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda wrote in a statement on X: "A drone that just entered Lithuanian airspace was destroyed by NATO fighter jets.
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that → write → jets
"
The origins of the drone are yet to be determined, a spokesperson for the Lithuanian national crisis management centre said.
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spokesperson → determine → centre
It is thought to be the first time that a Nato jet has shot down a drone in Lithuanian airspace.
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jet → think → airspace
Drone alerts sounded across the capital Vilnius and surrounding region earlier on Tuesday.
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alerts → sound → Tuesday
Shortly after midnight local time (21:00 GMT), alerts were sent to phones in the region, warning of a potential drone incursion and telling residents to "find a safe place" and "wait for the all clear".
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alerts → send → clear
Lithuania's armed forces and Italian pilots serving in the Nato Air Defence Mission "showed a swift and responsible response" to the drone incursion, Lithuania's Ministry of Defence said.
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Ministry → serve → Defence
Nausėda's post on social media added: "With Russia intensifying its aggression against Ukraine, such readiness is vital for our region.
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readiness → add → region
Together with our NATO Allies, Lithuania will defend its airspace."
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Lithuania → defend → airspace
Moscow has not commented on the incident.
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Moscow → comment → incident
The UK's Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said: "Thanks to the swift and professional actions of Lithuanian and Italian forces, Nato once again demonstrated our readiness to protect our airspace.
"
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Nato → say → airspace
We stand united, around the clock, in defence of every inch of Nato territory."
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We → stand → territory
The drone debris, scattered widely, will be collected and examined to try to determine who it belonged to, whether it was armed - and whether it was launched at Lithuania deliberately or perhaps strayed off course.
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it → scatter → course
Lithuania, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, shares a large part of its southern and eastern border with Belarus, a key Russian ally.
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Lithuania → share → Belarus
Drone sightings were reported in Lithuania on Sunday.
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sightings → report → Sunday
The crisis management centre later said an object had "likely" entered from Belarus and travelled across the country's territory before entering the airspace of Russia.
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object → say → Russia
The 13 September incident did not trigger air threat alerts.
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incident → trigger → alerts
Military drone incursions have become increasingly common across Europe since the beginning of Russia's full-scale of invasion of Ukraine.
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incursions → become → Ukraine
Poland also announced there had been "aviation operations" in its airspace on Monday night "due to the activity of Russian Federation's jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles conducting strikes on Ukrainian territory".
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Poland → announce → territory
These actions are of a "preventive nature" and are aimed at "securing airspace and its protection, especially in areas adjacent to threatened regions", it added.
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it → aim → regions
Residents in Lithuania's capital were forced to take shelter across Vilnius in May after a drone alert was triggered, briefly grounding flights and rail travel.
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alert → force → flights
Nato jets have scrambled multiple times to shoot down stray Ukrainian drones that have crossed into Baltic countries Estonia and Latvia this year.
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that → scramble → countries
Ukraine has blamed the stray drones on Russian electronic warfare, technology designed to change the flight paths of Ukrainian drones.
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Ukraine → blame → drones
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia all joined Nato in 2004, becoming signatories to the Article 5 provision that states "an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against all members".
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attack → join → members
The Aporia
