Lithuania’s Defense Ministry declared a “yellow” alert on the morning of May 20 after a drone approached from Belarus — a level indicating an attack was considered likely, though not the highest, “red” level, which would indicate an attack was underway, the news outlet Delfi reported.

Automatic warnings went out to residents of the Ignalina, Utena, Svencionys, and Zarasai districts, followed by a warning to residents of the Vilnius district — which, according to Delfi, had been upgraded to “red.” Vilnius Airport suspended operations for an hour starting at 10:00 a.m., and city public transit also stopped running.

Evacuations to shelters were carried out in several localities, including Vilnius. Lithuania’s top leaders — President Gitanas Nauseda, Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, and parliament speaker Juozas Olekas — also took shelter.

Lithuania’s Defense Ministry announced that NATO air forces responsible for Baltic airspace security had been scrambled in response to the drone.

By 11:00 a.m., the Lithuanian news outlet Delfi reported, the alert had been lifted.

Drones have repeatedly strayed into the airspace of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland over the past several months. According to Baltic authorities, these were Ukrainian drones that lost their bearings due to Russian electronic warfare. Russia, in turn, accuses the Baltic states of allowing their airspace to be used by Ukrainian drones.

On May 19, a drone that had entered Estonian airspace from Russia was shot down by NATO air forces.