NATO fighter jets were scrambled overnight on Tuesday–Wednesday, November 10–11, after at least four drones strayed toward the Baltic states during Ukrainian strikes on Russia, triggering brief shelter alerts for citizens of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, officials said on Wednesday. Finland, another Russian neighbour, imposed temporary airspace and maritime restrictions in the eastern Gulf of Finland and later withdrew them. The alerts were lifted hours later and there were no reports of injuries in the Baltic countries, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre said NATO aircraft assigned to the alliance's Baltic Air Policing mission were activated after an unidentified object was detected over Belarus moving toward the region. One of the warnings covered Kaunas, Lithuania's second-most populous city, home to about 300,000 people. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius described it as a 'difficult night' and said four drones had been detected across the region.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse; AnewZ

Two attempts were made to shoot down a drone over northern Lithuania but both failed, and it later crossed into neighbouring Latvia's airspace, Lithuanian Chief of Defence Staff Giedrius Premeneckas told a news conference, according to Reuters. Debris from a missile fired by a NATO fighter jet was later found near Biržai, Sinkevičius wrote in a Facebook post, as reported by NewsCord's roundup of the night's statements. The crisis centre's head, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, gave a differing account to LRT Radio: three drones had initially been detected in Belarus, none entered Lithuanian airspace, and one entered Latvia before flying on toward northern Russia.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse; NewsCord

Latvia's armed forces said three drones entered their airspace — two for a very brief time, and a third that stayed longer and also overflew Lithuania and Estonia — and that interceptor drones and air defence units were activated; residents of two border regions were ordered to seek shelter. In Estonia, sirens and public warnings stayed active in several counties until 6:00 a.m. Finland's defence forces announced a temporary aviation restriction area in the eastern Gulf of Finland from 02:09 and a maritime restriction from 02:15, both later lifted.

Source: Europa Press via Democrata; AnewZ

The disruption reached civilian travel: air traffic restrictions led to three flights scheduled for Tuesday night being cancelled at Vilnius airport, affecting around 465 passengers, Europa Press reported.

Source: Europa Press via Democrata

The night's wider exchange of strikes

The alerts came on a night when Ukrainian drones attacked Russia's northwest, home to major Baltic Sea export facilities and a big oil refinery, setting fire to the Ust-Luga port area and injuring three people, officials cited by Reuters said. Russian air strikes, meanwhile, hit several regions across Ukraine: officials and emergency services said a Russian attack cut electricity to parts of Kryvyi Rih, wounded one person in Kharkiv and injured six others in Zaporizhzhia, and Russian officials said falling drone debris killed two people in Russia's Smolensk region. Reuters said it could not immediately verify those battlefield reports independently.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse; NewsCord

Each capital explained the stray drones differently. Moscow has accused Kyiv of using NATO airspace as cover for attacks, while Kyiv says Russian electronic signal jamming sometimes sends its drones off course; the NATO nations generally blame Russia for such incidents, for igniting the war by invading Ukraine in 2022, Reuters reported. Ukrainian military drones straying into the airspace of Finland and the Baltics this year have fuelled concern that the war is spilling into NATO countries bordering Russia and its ally Belarus.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

This is not the first such night this month: earlier in November, Latvia issued an airspace alert and NATO jets were scrambled in a similar incident, which Awaaz Punjab reported at the time. Read the earlier Latvia alert report