Suspected Ukrainian military drone found crashed in Lithuania, say authorities
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A Ukrainian long-range drone launched by servicemen from an undisclosed location in Ukraine on May 16, hours before Moscow reported a major attack.
PHOTO: AFP
TALLINN – A suspected Ukrainian military drone was found crashed in Lithuania on May 17, the Lithuanian government’s National Crisis Management Centre said.
The drone was not detected when it entered Lithuania and was not armed with explosives, Mr Vilmantas Vitkauskas, the chief of the centre, told reporters.
The drone was found crashed at the village of Samane, the centre said, which is 40km from the Latvian border and 55km from Belarus.
Kyiv has not yet commented on the issue.
Separately, the Latvian army said a drone alert was issued on the morning of May 17 along its border with Russia, and NATO military fighters on a Baltic Air Policing mission were summoned to the area.
One drone entered Latvia for a short time during the alert, the army said.
Since March, several stray Ukrainian drones have entered the airspace of NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which border Russia and its ally Belarus.
Kyiv has consistently said the stray drones were launched to strike military targets in Russia, but were confused by Russian interference.
Some of the drones crashed and exploded, including two drones that hit and caused a fire at a Latvian oil storage facility on May 7.
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina fired her defence minister after the incident, which then led to the fall of her government on May 14.
The Baltic states said in April that they have never allowed their territories and airspace to be used for drone attacks against targets in Russia. REUTERS
