Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry apologises to Lithuania for drone incident in its airspace

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has apologised to Lithuania for the incident involving a drone that violated the country's airspace on the morning of 18 October. This was stated by the spokesperson of the Ukrainian foreign ministry, Heorhii Tykhyi.

According to Tykhyi, Kyiv regrets what happened. "We regret the incident that occurred this morning in Lithuanian airspace. We apologise for any inconvenience, risks and concern this may have caused," he said.

Local media reported an unidentified object in the Lithuanian sky. The head of the National Crisis Management Centre, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, as pro-Russian outlets report, suggested that it might be a drone. He added: "So far we have no information on how our forces are acting and whether there is a possibility to neutralise it, but we will get it shortly."

According to Telegram channels citing Lithuanian media, an air raid alert was declared in the Panevėžys and Šiauliai counties. According to the Lithuanian side, the object entered the country's airspace from Poland. NATO fighter jets were scrambled to identify it, but because of difficult weather conditions the pilots could not visually determine the type of object.

Reports then differ in the details. Telegram channels write that debris of an apparently fallen drone was later found in the Pasvalys district. Non-state Belarusian outlets report that Italian NATO fighter jets took off from the Šiauliai air base and shot the object down, and that the debris was found near the village of Pratkunai in the Kaišiadorys district. According to them, this is the first case of such an object being destroyed over Lithuania.

Lithuanian Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas, as non-state Belarusian outlets report, said that an explosive device was found in the drone and that sappers defused it.

It is not yet known what changes to the rules on using drones may appear in Belarus after this incident.

In September 2026, according to Telegram channels, NATO fighter jets from the Šiauliai air base destroyed an aircraft that had violated Lithuania's airspace. A yellow level of air threat was declared in the country at that time. According to preliminary data, that drone had likely flown in from Belarus.