Drone alert over Lithuania turns out to be flock of birds - as NATO jet scrambled

A NATO fighter jet was scrambled after a possible drone sighting in Lithuanian airspace - but it turned out to be a flock of birds.

The aircraft was sent from Siauliai in ​northern Lithuania, the country's national crisis management centre said.

Following the suspected drone sighting, Lithuania on Sunday closed Vilnius International Airport.

The alert was lifted and the airport reopened within 38 minutes, after the NATO jet made a visual identification, the centre said in a statement.

"On initial radar readings, marks ‌left by birds and drones can be similar," it added.

The Italian air force is currently based in Siauliai as part of the NATO Baltic Air Defence mission.

Military drones straying ​into the airspace of Finland, Estonia, ​Latvia and Lithuania have been sparking concerns ⁠that the war in Ukraine is spilling over into NATO's northern borders with Russia.

Read more from Sky News:
Backlash grows over Trump's 'completely wrong' comments on Irish reunification
Sweden votes in tight election that could see far-right party enter government

Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said on Sunday a Russian drone struck near the ​Ukrainian-Polish border in the small town of Yahodyn ‌overnight.

The ​site of the attack was 800m (less than a mile) from ‌the ⁠Polish border, and the border crossing was temporarily closed during the attack, a Polish border guard spokeswoman told Reuters news agency.

In Volyn, another region bordering Poland, a ​drone attacked ⁠the locomotive of a passenger train just 1.2 miles (2km) from the Polish ​border, Ukrainian Railways - Ukrzaliznytsia - said in a separate statement. The company said no one was ​injured.

Earlier this week, a flight scheduled to carry Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from Moldova to Norway was delayed when authorities closed Moldova's airspace because of a drone incursion, a government spokesperson said.

(c) Sky News 2026: Drone alert over Lithuania turns out to be flock of birds - as NATO jet scrambled