NATO-Russia tension in the Baltic skies: Italian fighters shoot down drone violating Lithuanian airspace
Quick Look
- Two Italian fighters shot down a drone that had violated Lithuania's airspace, according to Minister Crosetto visiting Vilnius, who said it was probably Russian.
- Meanwhile, developments on the Ukrainian front are reported: the death of Russian General Anton Grunis, a Ukrainian drone attack in Belgorod that injured two men, and Zelensky's accusations about alleged Russian attempts to hit his drone plane in Moldova, although subsequent reconstructions indicate that the drone had only caused a delay to the flight without close contact.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The article is inserted in the context of the conflict in Ukraine and the growing tensions between NATO and Russia, with episodes of airspace violation and use of drones by both sides.
High NATO-Russia tension in the skies of the Baltic: 2 Italian fighters shot down a drone that had violated Lithuania's airspace. "It's likely he was Russian", confirms Crosetto on a visit to Vilnius.
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Russian Army Major General Anton Grunis, commander of the 4 Motorized Infantry Brigade, was killed in Ukraine, according to a source within the same brigade relaunched by the Moscow Times. The news of the general's death was also spread last night by the "Suvorov Brotherhood" Telegram channel, a community of former students of the Suvorov military academy. Ukrainian channels said the deceased Russian commander had the code name "Grozny" and had participated in the annexation of Crimea in 2014. In late August, Moscow's Defense Ministry reported that Russian military personnel, including Grunis, had been awarded the Gold Star of Hero of the Russian Federation "for courage and heroism demonstrated in the fulfillment of military duty." His unit is engaged in the battle for the town of Konstantinovka in the Donetsk region, which Russian forces have been trying to capture since October 2025 but currently control about 70% of, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW). In July, the General Staff reported to President Vladimir Putin that the city had been fully occupied. As reported by the popular Telegram channel Astra, Grunis graduated from the Suvorov Military School in Kazan in 1996, at just under 17 years old; he also fought in Chechnya and Georgia, and retired in 2021, only to return to the army after the invasion of Ukraine began. According to the count kept by the independent Russian newspaper 'Vazhnye Istorii' (Important Stories), Grunis would be the 23rd Russian general to die in the war against Ukraine.
Ukrainian armed forces used a drone to attack a vehicle in the village of Krasnaya Yaruga, Belgorod region, injuring two men. This was reported by Tass, quoting the 'Max' channel, which adds that "this evening, a drone from the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked a vehicle in the village of Krasnaya Yaruga. Two men were injured". "The victims - he adds - were transported to Belgorod hospital. One man suffered multiple shrapnel wounds and a serious leg amputation. Doctors say his condition is extremely serious".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has complained that Russia has targeted his plane with drones twice in recent weeks, describing the incidents as part of an attempt to intimidate him and other foreign officials who support Ukraine. According to what the Kiev leader said in an interview with CBS News, some drones entered Moldovan airspace when his presidential plane was in Chisinau, and again when it returned to Ukraine via the Moldovan capital a few days later. “In Moldova, my presidential plane was there, and that's why they attacked,” Zelensky said. In reality, according to various reconstructions, on 8 September while he was supposed to take off from Moldova to go to the funeral of King Harald V in Oslo, Zelensky's flight had only been delayed due to a drone trespassing into Moldovan airspace; the drone did not have any close contact with the president's aircraft. Zelensky linked the incidents related to his flight to the latest Russian attack against Ukrainian railway infrastructure, which occurred on September 13, when a jet drone hit a passenger train near Yahodyn, in the Volhynia region, a few kilometers from the Polish border. The train was carrying senior foreign officials, including former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former CIA director David Petraeus. No casualties were reported, despite the train carrying 206 passengers. "Maybe they didn't know that some Americans had been there or maybe they knew, because I don't trust them. I think they knew," Zelensky told CBS.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Increased Nato air patrols in the Baltics after the Lithuanian drone crash
Likely · Within days
Continuation of mutual drone attacks between Ukraine and Russia in border areas
Very likely · Within weeks
Open Questions
- What was the exact origin of the drone shot down by Italian fighters?
- What is the concrete evidence of the death of General Grunis?
- What were the intentions behind the alleged Ukrainian drone attack in Belgorod?
- Was there actually a Russian intention to hit Zelensky's plane in Moldova?
