NATO jets down drone over Lithuania; Russian frigate fires flares at Danish helicopter

NATO fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace overnight, officials said Tuesday, less than a day after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that strikes close to the alliance’s territory would drive the trans-Atlantic organization to increase its support for Kyiv.

The drone was downed near the village of Pratkūnai in the Kaišiadorys district, about 60 miles west of the country’s capital, Vilnius, and near the Kaunas Reservoir, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center said Tuesday.

Lithuania’s military said that the incident marked the first time that a drone had been shot down in the country’s airspace. Authorities didn’t comment on the drone’s origin or purpose, saying the incident needed further investigation.

Meanwhile, a Russian frigate fired two flares toward a Danish military helicopter in international waters off Denmark on Monday, narrowly missing the aircraft, the Nordic NATO member’s military said.

The Baltic Sea region is on high alert after incidents involving gas pipeline outages, airspace violations and drone sightings since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, all of which have increased tensions between Moscow and the West.

The Fennec military helicopter had been on a routine mission to photograph the Russian frigate, the Danish defense command said in…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/world