Lithuanian Interior Minister Kondratovic: Drone that caused closure of Vilnius Airport has not been found
Lithuanian Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovic said that the drone, which caused the temporary closure of Vilnius Airport on Wednesday, has not been found.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to LRT.
The minister said that a moving object appeared on radar, prompting the air police to scramble, but the information was not confirmed.
"There was a mark on the radar indicating that something might be moving, so we scrambled fighter jets and checked everything, but found nothing. It was, as they say, 'radar interference'; nothing was confirmed," Kondratovic said.
According to him, after thorough checks, the airport resumed operations.
"Nothing was found, the sky was checked, the air police forces did their job. Everything is fine, the airport is back to normal," the minister added.
What preceded it?
On Wednesday morning, November 5, Vilnius Airport suspended operations due to the appearance of an unknown drone.
Russian drones over Europe
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that systematic violations of EU airspace by Russian drones are part of the hybrid war that Russia is waging against Europe.
In September 2025, Russia significantly intensified its hybrid attacks on European countries, particularly NATO members, using drones and military aircraft to violate their airspace.
On September 7, a Russian helicopter violated Estonia's airspace. The Estonian Defense Forces General Staff reported that a Mi-8 helicopter entered the country's airspace without permission in the vicinity of Vaindloo Island. The helicopter did not have a flight plan, and its transponder was turned off.
On September 10, about 20 Russian drones invaded Polish airspace. Some of them were shot down by NATO fighter jets.
A Russian drone penetrated 10 km into Romanian airspace, remaining there for about 50 minutes. The incident occurred on September 13.
On the night of September 17, the Polish Border Guard recorded increased activity by Belarusian and Russian drones attempting to violate Polish airspace.
Three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace for 12 minutes on September 19.
Twice, on September 23 and 26, Copenhagen Airport suspended operations due to the detection of large drones nearby. The airport is also used as an air base for the Danish Air Force.
In addition, unknown drones were spotted in the evening and at night on September 24-25. A group of drones flew in areas where Danish military facilities are located.
During flights of unknown drones over airports and military facilities in Denmark, a Russian Navy ship was spotted at sea near the country.
On the night of September 25-26, two unidentified drones were spotted over the Karlskrona archipelago in Sweden. The main base of the Swedish Navy is located there.
An unidentified drone was also spotted above a hydroelectric power station near Rovaniemi in Finland.
On Saturday afternoon, September 27, Schiphol, the main airport in the Netherlands, closed its runway for about 45 minutes after a drone was spotted there.
