PRATKŪNAI, Lithuania — Italian NATO Eurofighter jets scrambled from the air base at Šiauliai shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle overnight Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, over the village of Pratkūnai in Kaišiadorys District — the first drone shootdown in Lithuanian airspace, authorities said, according to LRT, Delfi, and the Washington Examiner.

National Crisis Management Centre head Vilmantas Vitkauskas told LRT the drone most likely entered from neighbouring Belarus and remained in Lithuanian airspace for about half an hour before interception. Lithuanian Air Force reporting carried by Delfi said it was downed about 82 km from the Belarus border and roughly 5 km from the Kruonis pumped-storage plant. Temporary air-threat alerts for Vilnius, surrounding districts, and later the Kaunas region were subsequently cancelled.

Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said an explosive device was found at the crash site and neutralized by bomb-disposal specialists from the police antiterrorist unit Aras under Operation Skydas (Shield). “According to the final data, an explosive device has been discovered. [Bomb diffusers] have neutralized it. Specialists will continue to investigate and analyze the drone,” Kaunas said, per the Washington Examiner; LIGA.net quoted him saying Operation Shield had been completed and bomb-disposal experts neutralized the device.

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, meeting Kaunas at Šiauliai after the intercept, said Italian pilots had shot down a threat that was “highly likely to have come from Russia” (LIGA.net / LRT reporting). Lithuania stressed that the UAV’s origin remains under investigation pending debris analysis — Kaunas said it was still unclear whether the drone was Russian or belonged to another state.

President Gitanas Nausėda thanked NATO allies, saying Lithuania would defend its airspace together with them. LRT noted prior air-threat warnings in recent months, but Tuesday marked the first confirmed shootdown over Lithuanian territory. Treat Crosetto’s Russia attribution as the Italian minister’s assessment; Lithuanian authorities have not closed the origin question.

Sources