Lithuania reports armed drone – Bundeswehr is setting up a brigade in the country

There has been another incident with a drone on NATO's eastern flank. And according to information from Lithuania, the flying object was armed with explosives. This was announced by Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas. The explosive device was defused by special forces, he wrote on Facebook. The drone continues to be examined and analyzed.

In Lithuania on Tuesday night, an unmanned flying object was brought down from the sky by Italian Eurofighters over a rural area near the village of Pratkunai (more on this here). There were no injuries or damage. The authorities had previously alerted the population of several regions of the Baltic EU and NATO country about a possible threat from the air.

There was initially no more precise information about the origin and type of the drone that was shot down. According to initial findings, the drone probably flew into Lithuania from Belarus. There have already been several incidents involving drones in the Baltic states in the wake of the Ukraine war.

President Gitanas Nausėd said on X on Tuesday: "I would like to thank the Alliance's emergency services for their quick response. In view of Russia's increasing aggression against Ukraine, this readiness is of crucial importance for our region. "Lithuania will defend its airspace together with its NATO allies."

Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys also thanked the allies of the Western military alliance, "whose presence helps protect our airspace and strengthen our security." At

Neighboring Poland had also announced the start of “air operations” in its airspace. Warsaw cited “the activities of jet-powered drones of the Russian Federation that carry out attacks on Ukrainian territory” as the reason. The steps are “preventative in nature”. They aimed to "secure and protect airspace, especially in areas bordering threatened regions."

Bundeswehr is building a brigade in the country

Lithuania borders the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad and Russia's ally Belarus. Since the Russian attack on Ukraine, the country has felt particularly threatened; there have been suspicious drone overflights almost every day recently, for which Lithuania blames Russia. According to government information, Lithuania's military intelligence service has information that Russia may be considering attacks on critical infrastructure in the Baltic states.

The Bundeswehr is currently setting up a German tank brigade in Lithuania. The battle group with 4,800 soldiers, ready for combat and capable of acting independently, should be operational by the end of 2027. Because not enough volunteers were found for the Bundeswehr's Lithuania Brigade, soldiers are now required to go to NATO's eastern flank. We are talking about around 570 men and women who are being sent to Lithuania by order (more on that here).