Inga Ruginienė, the Lithuanian prime minister, has firmly rejected any suggestion that the Baltic nations are enabling cross-border drone warfare, stating that neither her country nor its neighbours have made their skies available for Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory.
The Baltic countries have never granted access to their airspace or territories for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against targets in Russia, Lithuania’s prime minister, Inga Ruginienė, has said on Monday.
“We have issued a very clear and responsible statement. I reiterate: the Baltic states have never provided their airspace or land for drone strikes on Russian targets,” she emphasised.
Her remarks came shortly after a Ukrainian military drone entered Lithuanian airspace in the early hours of May 17. The wreckage of the unmanned aircraft was later found in the eastern part of the country on the evening of the same day.
On May 19, a Romanian fighter jet operating as part of NATO’s Baltic air-policing mission shot down a drone that had strayed into Estonian territory. Debris from the unmanned aircraft fell near a residential property in Põltsamaa parish.
On the same day, an unidentified drone entered Latvian airspace, prompting authorities to issue a warning to local residents about a potential threat.
On May 20, three regions of Latvia declared a possible airborne threat, while parts of Lithuania activated air-raid sirens after a drone was detected near their border.
Officials from the Baltic defence ministries have repeatedly stressed in the past that all anti-aircraft and air surveillance infrastructure in the region operates strictly within NATO’s defensive framework. At present, airspace monitoring over Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia continues as normal, carried out jointly by national military services and the rotating contingents of NATO’s air-policing mission.
