Lithuanian authorities are to resume their search on Tuesday for wreckage from a suspected drone that fell and exploded on Lake Lavysas in the Varėna district, southern Lithuania. The government believes it was a stray Ukrainian drone used in an operation targeting Russia.
"From 9am today, all services are gathering at the scene," Darius Buta, a representative of the National Crisis Management Centre, told reporters.
The site was secured overnight by police and Lithuanian army military police.
Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas says the drone that came down and exploded in the Varėna district on Monday night was most likely Ukrainian and may have become lost as a result of electronic warfare interference.
"Preliminary information from the services is that this is one of the drones from a swarm that attacked the port of Primorsk. It is very likely that this is a Ukrainian drone, affected by electronic warfare measures, which became lost and came down on our territory," Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday.
"I want to mention that neither Belarus nor Lithuania, unfortunately, detected it, because the drone was flying below what appears to be 300 metres. The services are still establishing the details," he added.
Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė later confirmed it was indeed the case.
"The drone that crossed our airspace and flew into the Varėna district was a Ukrainian drone and it is related to the operation that the Ukrainians were conducting that night, directed against Russia," the prime minister told reporters on Tuesday after a meeting of the National Security Commission.
"We can already say for sure that it was a stray drone," she added.
Earlier, the president's chief adviser on national security, Deividas Matulionis, said the drone was most likely of the Shahed type, developed by Iranians. Still, he cautioned it was too early to confirm this definitively.
"Most likely a Shahed, possibly another type," Matulionis told Žinių radijas on Tuesday. "Both the Russians and the Ukrainians have all kinds of drones, and we cannot say clearly where this drone came from, where it was flying from, or where it was heading," he added.
His assessment echoed that of drone expert and Ukraine war volunteer Arūnas Kumpis, who had earlier told LRT Television that the sound audible in video footage of the incident was consistent with a Shahed drone.
Officers from the ARAS Police Force tactical unit and experts from the Alytus County Chief Police Commissariat are working at the scene, according to reports from ELTA and BNS.
Operations are expected to be completed by the end of the day.
"In response to the incident and the initial information currently available, a decision has been taken to investigate it as one episode within a pre-trial investigation into war crimes in Ukraine opened in 2022," the General Prosecutor's Office representative Elena Martinonienė told ELTA on Monday evening.
Lithuanian Defence Minister warned that the risk of drone incidents remains high because of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
"As long as Russia's war in Ukraine continues, the probability of such incidents remains high, which is why Lithuania is investing in air defence and strengthening surveillance. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that air defence is one of the greatest challenges across NATO," Kaunas wrote on Facebook on Monday.
The minister said he will soon travel to Ukraine to continue consultations and negotiations regarding air defence innovations.
"We must accept the new reality, but we must not make excuses or shed responsibility – we must work at an even greater pace to strengthen air surveillance and defence capabilities," he said.
The drone is believed to have flown in from Belarus and came down in the early hours of Monday morning. It did not pose a danger to local residents.
Debris was visible at the scene, and an internal combustion engine was found. Video footage circulated on social media showed the drone exploding on impact, and witnesses in the vicinity confirmed hearing an explosion.
Lithuanian army radars did not detect the object crossing Lithuanian airspace.
The National Security Commission, chaired by Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė, is due to discuss the situation on Tuesday.
Lithuania has previously recorded two incursions by Russian Gerbera drones, one of which was carrying explosives. Investigators established that both had been destined for Ukraine but accidentally crossed into Lithuanian territory after Ukrainian electronic warfare measures disrupted their flight paths.
Updated: added Matulionis', Kaunas' comments, video footage, photos.
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