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Lithuania authorises army to shoot down drones violating its airspace
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 23, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
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Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 23, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Lithuania's military can now shoot down drones violating its airspace, following incidents with Russian drones. NATO supports this move to enhance defense.
By Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS (Reuters) -Lithuania's parliament granted the Baltic country's armed forces powers on Tuesday to shoot down any unmanned drone violating its airspace following incidents in which it said two Russian drones crashed on its territory.
Lithuania's army is currently able to target drones only if they are determined to be armed or pose an imminent danger to objects important to the state.
This will change under a law that was passed with the backing of 117 of the 141 members of Lithuanian parliament under emergency procedures and will be valid in the NATO and European Union member state from October.
VIOLATIONS OF NATO MEMBER STATES' AIRSPACE
"Now we can quickly react in any way, including the destruction of drones", said Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene.
"Our laws and procedures were not adapted to current threats... we can now react at the speed of lightning".
The new law authorises Lithuania's chief of defence to close down parts of Lithuanian airspace and to shoot down any drone inside "which violates rules set out by the chief of defence".
NATO said on Tuesday it would use "all necessary military and non-military tools" to defend itself after what it said was "a pattern of increasingly irresponsible behaviour" by Moscow following recent violations of NATO member states' airspace.
Lithuania asked NATO in August for more air defences after two military drones chrashed into its territory from Belarus, and Denmark said on Tuesday that drones that halted flights at its main airport on Monday were linked to a series of suspected Russian drone incursions and other disruptions across Europe.
Estonia said on Friday that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets had violated its airspace for 12 minutes before being escorted out by NATO fighter jets.
Poland said some 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace on the night of September 9-10, prompting NATO jets to shoot some of them down and the alliance to beef up the defence of Europe's eastern flank.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius)
Lithuania's parliament granted the armed forces the authority to shoot down any unmanned drone violating its airspace.
Lithuania requested more air defenses after two military drones crashed into its territory from Belarus.
The law was passed with the backing of 117 of the 141 members of the Lithuanian parliament.
NATO stated it would use 'all necessary military and non-military tools' to defend itself against what it described as a pattern of increasingly irresponsible behavior by Moscow.
The new law allows Lithuania's chief of defense to close parts of airspace and shoot down any drones that violate the rules established by the chief of defense.
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