A NATO fighter jet shot down a drone over Lithuania on Tuesday night after it entered the country’s airspace from Belarus. The drone was reported to have flown over Lentvaris, near the capital Vilnius, before being downed close to the village of Pratkūnai, according to Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre. This marks the first instance of a drone being shot down in Lithuanian airspace.
The incident highlights concerns about Belarus’s involvement in drone attacks against Ukraine and raises alarms about drone threats to NATO territory. This follows Ukrainian claims that Russia is using Belarusian mobile networks to support its drone assaults on western Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s advisor, Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, noted that the flight paths of Russian drones were indicative of their use of mobile networks across the border. He suggested that these drones likely have access to Belarusian commercial LTE networks.
Additionally, Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service revealed that recent Russian strikes in the western regions of Rivne, Volyn, and Lviv were backed by communications infrastructure based in Belarus. Spokesperson Andrii Demchenko stated that the drones were receiving signals through repeaters located there.
These developments suggest that Russia is again relying on Belarusian communications gear to enhance its drone campaign against Ukraine. Earlier this year, Ukraine had urged Belarus to shut down such equipment, which has been a source of tension since June, when Zelenskyy issued an ultimatum for its dismantlement. While reports indicated the repeaters were shut down briefly, by the end of June, some were reportedly back in operation, allowing Russia to maintain crucial communications with drones near Ukraine’s borders.
