Lithuania's president and prime minister were rushed to underground bunkers, while residents of the capital, Vilnius, were advised to take shelter after a warning was issued after a drone violated the country's airspace.
Air and rail traffic in and around the city was suspended after the "find shelter" mobile phone signal, the first issued in an EU and NATO country since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, The Guardian writes, Gazeta Express reports.
"Airborne alert! Go immediately to a shelter or safe place, take care of family members and await further instructions," read the defense ministry warning, which was sent at around 10:20 a.m. Wednesday and lasted about an hour.
Schools took children to designated shelters, people in offices and apartment buildings went down to their basements, while Lithuania's president, Gitanas Nausėda, and prime minister, Inga Ruginienė, were urgently sent to bunkers along with cabinet members and MPs.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after the warning that Russia and Belarus were directly responsible for a wave of drone incursions into the airspace of EU and NATO countries in recent weeks.
Russian electronic interference has been blamed for the intrusion of Ukrainian drones into Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all of which border Russia. A NATO jet shot down a drone over Estonia on Tuesday, and Latvia's prime minister resigned last week over the incursions.
"Russia's public threats against our Baltic states are completely unacceptable," von der Leyen said on social media. "Russia and Belarus bear direct responsibility for the drones that endanger the lives and safety of people on our eastern flank."
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