UPDATED 21 SEPTEMBER 2025 (additional paragraph at the end) | Lithuania has called upon NATO to improve the safety of its airspace, after two Russian drones invaded Lithuanian airspace in a few weeks time in July. The crash landing of one of the drones in the middle of a Lithuanian military area has caused commotion in the Baltic state.
Both drones flew into Lithuania through Belarusian airspace, and the second one reached the military location 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the border. It had 2 kilograms of explosives on board. The first drone crashed a kilometre from the border and had no explosives on board. It took Lithuanian authorities four days to find the drone.
Gerbera versus Shahed
Both drones look like the Iranian made attack kamikaze drones that Russia often launches to Ukraine, but are made of wood and plastics. This cheap Gerbera type of drone is often used to trick the Ukrainian air defences, in the hope the more destructive Iranian Shaheds will get through their targets.
NATO air policing
The NATO Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have no combat aircraft of their own, and have limited air defences. NATO has fighter jets based in the Baltic states to provide its eastern flank with air cover and air policing.
Update 21 September 2025
On 17 September, the National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) of Lithuania said that the drones quite likely entered by mistake. “The data available from the investigation allows us to continue with the initial version that the drones that fell in Lithuania were launched by the aggressor Russia toward Ukraine and entered Lithuanian territory by accident”, a NKVC statement reads.
| © 2025 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured photo: A Russian Gerbera drone crashed or downed in Ukraine in January 2025 (Photo: Ukrainian government)