Key takeaways
- NATO jets fired at a drone over Lithuania after midnight on 11 November, but Lithuanian officials say it was not shot down.
- Lithuania's military chief says there is no confirmed information on whether the drone was Ukrainian, Russian or another type.
- Alerts spread to Latvia and Estonia, and Russia reported a drone attack and fire at Ust-Luga port the same night.
- Reporting does not show the incidents changed the Abu Dhabi talks, which continued into a second day as scheduled.
Lithuania issued air alerts for Kaunas and other areas after midnight on 11 November, with red alerts (take shelter) for Panevėžys, ELTA reported. A drone, believed to have entered from Belarus, was flying north across the country. NATO fighter jets had two opportunities to neutralise it, but both attempts were unsuccessful, Defence Staff Chief Rear Admiral Giedrius Premeneckas said. Reuters reported no injuries. According to Premeneckas, the drone later left Latvian territory, entered Estonia and, as far as the Lithuanian military knows, then went on into Russia.
The same night, Leningrad region Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said a drone attack caused a fire in the port of Ust-Luga. The port is a major Russian oil and grain export outlet, about 36 kilometres from Estonia. Reuters reported three workers injured and said it could not immediately confirm the reports. The events came as Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators began the second and final day of talks in Abu Dhabi.
A failed intercept over Lithuania
The night began at about 21:30, when Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) warned of possible balloons, AeroTime reported. Vilnius and Kaunas airports closed. Centre head Vilmantas Vitkauskas told LRT that three Vilnius flights, carrying more than 400 passengers, were affected, based on preliminary information.
At 22:47, Belarus warned Lithuania over a technical line. Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas (not the city) told LRT that Belarus was trying to neutralise the objects. He said they did not enter Lithuanian airspace and turned toward Latvia and Russia.
After midnight, one drone is believed to have entered near Druskininkai. LRT reported it then turned north through Marijampolė, Kaunas and Panevėžys and left near Pasvalys. Lithuania's alerts were lifted by 02:49.
Premeneckas told LRT that NATO jets identified the drone visually roughly within the limits of the city of Kaunas. They did not fire there to avoid damage from falling debris. Conditions then deteriorated, and the jets made several passes. He said shots were fired when possible, but that for various circumstances he would not detail, the drone was not shot down. One missile that missed self-destructed, and its remains fell in Biržai district. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius called it "a difficult night" and said it would be investigated.
Latvia and Estonia issued warnings after 03:00, and ERR reported NATO jets scrambled over Estonia. Finland's defence forces said they briefly imposed precautionary airspace and maritime restrictions in the eastern Gulf of Finland.
Observers are reading: how the competing explanations for the drone line up, and what the failed intercept shows about NATO's air-policing limits in the Baltics.
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What it means for Abu Dhabi
Reporting so far does not show that the night changed the talks' agenda or either side's position. A Russian delegation source told AFP the session would resume at 12:00 local time. Zelensky called the first day "constructive and quite substantive", AFP reported.
The link to the talks is analytical, not sourced. Moscow wants collective European security at the top of the agenda, and Lavrov said Russia "can only welcome" the US proposal to put it there. US envoy Jared Kushner has said a settlement needs direct engagement between Russia and Europeans, while European officials meet US and Ukrainian negotiators separately. A night when NATO jets fly over Baltic cities and no one agrees what the drone was gives that debate a concrete case. It is not evidence that the talks moved.
Four things to watch: Lithuania's investigation of the intercept, any Abu Dhabi outcome on de-escalation or energy, the European session, and further alerts. An informal EU summit in Dublin follows, according to earlier Crisis.Zone reporting.
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