Lithuania Draws Up Evacuation Plans After 1 Drone Incursion, Vows to Fight Russia
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 22
Lithuania Draws Up Evacuation Plans After 1 Drone Incursion, Vows to Fight Russia
2 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Sep 22
Summary
Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said Lithuania has prepared evacuation plans for multiple attack scenarios, including moving elderly residents out of cities without gridlock.
Russian threats and repeated airspace breaches drove the planning, he said, adding Lithuanians feel constantly threatened and would "fight back" rather than surrender if attacked.
1 week ago, Nato fighter pilots shot down a drone over Lithuania; the defence minister said it came from the direction of Belarus, though its origin has not been confirmed.
Drone incursions have spread across Europe since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with alerts in Vilnius in May and Nato scrambles this year over stray drones in Estonia and Latvia.
Lithuania borders Russia's Kaliningrad enclave and, like fellow Baltic states Estonia and Latvia, is covered by Nato's Article 5 collective-defence guarantee.