Latvia, Lithuania warn of new drone threats in airspace

Latvia ​and Lithuania early on Wednesday ‌warned people ​across several regions to take shelter due to threats of unidentified drones entering ‌their airspace via neighbouring Russia or Belarus, and said NATO air defence fighter jets were activated.

Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre said its warning included ‌the country's second city of Kaunas which has a population ‌of some 300,000 people. There were no reports of any injuries.

Ukrainian military drones have been straying into the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, ⁠creating concerns ​that the war ⁠in Ukraine is spilling over into NATO countries that border Russia and ⁠its ally Belarus. As Ukraine attacks Russian Baltic Sea oil shipping ports, some ​of its drones have missed their targets and led ⁠to security warnings in neighbouring countries. In the case of Latvia, it led to ⁠a ​government collapse earlier this year.

Moscow has accused Kyiv of using NATO airspace as cover for attacks, while Kyiv says ⁠some of its drones have been steered off course by Russian signal ⁠jamming. The ⁠NATO countries blame Russia for the incidents, saying it ignited the war.