Lithuania leaders shelter as drone alert halts Vilnius

Lithuania's president and prime minister were forced to take shelter on Tuesday when a drone alert brought the capital Vilnius to a standstill.

President Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene were taken to emergency shelters after the air alert ordered residents to take cover. Flights were suspended and road and rail travel briefly stopped. The alert has since been lifted.

It is not yet clear who was behind the incursion. The alert came a day after Estonia said Nato shot down a drone over its territory, which it suspected was a Ukrainian projectile knocked off course by Russian electronic interference.

It was the latest in a series of recent drone incursions over Nato members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. An alert from Lithuania's defence ministry on Wednesday said: "Immediately take shelter in a safe place, take care of your close ones, await new recommendations."

Lithuania's national crisis management centre earlier said it had issued the alert in response to a drone in neighbouring Belarus that was seen flying towards Lithuania. Lithuania's military later said Nato jets had been deployed to shoot down the drone but could not locate it.

An evacuation order was also issued at the Seimas, Lithuania's parliament, according to local media, with politicians and staff led down to a basement shelter.

On Tuesday, Estonian officials said a Nato fighter jet had shot down a suspected Ukrainian drone. No damage was reported. Ukraine responded by accusing Moscow of deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones launched at legitimate military targets in Russia and apologising to Estonia and all of its Baltic friends for such unintended incidents.

Earlier this month, two Ukrainian drones hit an empty oil storage site in Latvia. Ukraine said this was the result of electronic jamming by Russia. A similar incident was reported by Estonia and Latvia in March.

Moscow has accused the three Baltic states of allowing Ukraine to use their air corridors to strike targets inside Russia, a claim which has been denied by Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius.