Vilnius air alert: NATO jets down drone, Sep 15 2026

Lithuania's Armed Forces and National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) issued a yellow-level air danger alert (tikėtinas oro pavojus, geltona) at 00:10 local time on September 15, 2026, after radar tracked a drone entering Lithuanian airspace from Belarus near Trakai District. NATO fighters shot the drone down near Pratkūnai, Kaišiadorys District, and the all-clear was issued at 00:33 local, 23 minutes after the alert went out.

The Fire and Rescue Department (PAGD) sent the alert to residents of Vilnius city and district and the Trakai and Elektrėnai municipalities; a later message extended the warning to Kaunas District as the object moved west. Residents were told to find shelter and to call 112 if they spotted a suspicious object, rather than approach it.

Residents said the mobile push alert reached their phones well before lt72.lt caught up. The matching listing, "Dėl galimai dronų, GELTONA," covering Vilnius city and district, Trakai and Elektrėnai, wasn't posted on the site until 00:19 local, about nine minutes after the alert had already gone out.

NATO fighters shot the drone down near Pratkūnai

Italian Air Force jets flying NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission out of Šiauliai Air Base intercepted and destroyed the drone in the air, the Lithuanian Armed Forces said. NKVC head Vilmantas Vitkauskas placed the impact site between Kaišiadorys and Kaunas, near the village of Pratkūnai and the Kaunas Reservoir (Kauno marios); wreckage was located at the scene.

Military Police from the Lithuanian Armed Forces and national police cordoned the site under Plan "Skydas" (Shield) and continued the search overnight. NKVC said there is a high probability the drone was carrying an explosive charge; as of this writing, no injuries or property damage have been reported, and investigators had not yet determined the drone's type or flight parameters.

Vilnius Airport (VNO) restricted its airspace and operations for the duration of the alert and resumed normal service once the all-clear was issued. Two flights, arriving from Antalya and Reykjavík, were delayed slightly.

The drone came down within about 5 km of the Kruonis pumped storage plant

Pratkūnai sits close to the Kruonis Pumped Storage Plant, the only facility of its kind in the Baltic states. Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas told LRT Television that the object was neutralized near the plant, which he described as being close to critical infrastructure.

Asta Sungailienė, head of Ignitis gamyba, which operates the plant, put the shoot-down within roughly a 5 km radius of the site. Staff on shift did not hear the explosion, she said, though the plant prepared to move them into hardened rooms after the yellow-level alert went out. Sungailienė said the plant is built with thick concrete structures designed to resist significant risks of this kind, and that it operates an anti-drone system managed by the Public Security Service (VST).

No Lithuanian authority has stated that the plant was the drone's target, and the route, model and purpose of the flight are still under investigation. What the incursion joins is a pattern: Nausėda tied the response directly to Russia's escalating war on Ukraine, and Kaunas said he contacted Poland's defence minister immediately afterwards, noting that Polish airspace is being violated repeatedly. A drone entering from Belarus and going down within 5 km of the Baltic states' only pumped storage plant sits inside that pattern, whatever the investigation concludes about intent.

The drone crossed from Belarus and turned west over Trakai District

Vitkauskas said the drone entered Lithuania from Belarus and was first detected over the Lentvaris area of Trakai District before continuing west toward Kaišiadorys. Regional wind at 1,000 m over the alert area was blowing from the west-southwest at 28 km/h around the time NKVC issued the warning, per AirVeto's forecast model. Unlike the region's contraband balloons, a powered drone flying a tracked route holds its own heading regardless of wind, so this figure describes conditions during the drone's final leg rather than the forces that carried it there. This reconstruction is based on LRT's rolling coverage of the incident and NKVC's public statements for the event window.

LRT reported this as the first drone shot down over Lithuanian territory. AirVeto's archive includes an earlier Vilnius-area air alert on June 13, 2026, which ended without an intercept.

Nausėda and the defence minister thanked NATO's response

President Gitanas Nausėda, on a working visit to Finland, posted on X that NATO fighters had destroyed the drone shortly after it entered Lithuanian airspace, calling the alliance's readiness vital while Russia continues its war on Ukraine. Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas thanked the allied pilots, the Lithuanian Armed Forces and the responding agencies, said the object had been neutralized and its location established, and asked residents to stay calm and avoid approaching any wreckage.

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The 15 September intercept is the first time a drone has been shot down over Lithuanian territory, rather than crashing on its own or drifting in on the wind the way the region's more common contraband balloons do. AirVeto tracks Lithuania's drone and balloon airspace incidents on its Lithuania drone incidents page; see our methodology for how these reconstructions are built.

Last updated September 15, 2026. AirVeto updates this page as Lithuanian authorities confirm new details.