Russia has renewed its violations of NATO airspace with jet incursions into Lithuanian territory, the nation’s president announced Thursday.
“This is a blatant breach of international law and territorial integrity of Lithuania,” President Gitanas Nausėda said. “Once again, it confirms the importance of strengthening European air defense readiness.”
The Lithuanian Ministry of Defense said: “Russian military aircraft briefly entered Lithuanian airspace. Our forces acted quickly with NATO jets on patrol.”
The ministry said around 6 p.m. local time two Russian airplanes – an Su30 and IL78, a refueling aircraft, entered Lithuanian airspace for about 18 seconds. A government source guessed it was a refueling exercise.
Two Spanish fighter jets on a NATO air police mission flew to the site of the violation.
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Russian diplomats in Vilnius have been called in to meet with the foreign ministry on the matter.
In late September, Lithuania authorized its armed forces to shoot down unmanned aerial vehicles that breach its borders after several Russian drones crashed on its territory near the border.
Russian jets also violated airspace in Estonia for 12 minutes last month, coming near the capital city of Talinn.
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Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists that if Russia were attacked with Western long-range missiles, the response would be “very serious, if not overwhelming. Let them think about it.”
His comments came after Zelenskyy asked the U.S. for long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles and a Wall Street Journal report that the Trump administration lifted a key restriction on Ukraine’s use of Western long-range missiles. Trump denied the report on Truth Social.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the U.S. to provide Tomahawk missiles, but so far President Donald Trump has held off. Still, he imposed harsh sanctions on Russia’s oil industry on Wednesday.
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The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces on Tuesday said it used British-made Storm Cruiser Missiles to strike deep within Russia’s territory to strike a chemical plant.
Meanwhile, Trump has called off plans to meet with Putin in Hungary, saying he didn’t want to “waste time” after the Kremlin rejected the idea of freezing the front lines of the battle while the two sides hash out a longer-term peace deal.
The U.S. president last month suggested NATO countries should shoot down Russian jets that violate their airspace.
“Do you think that NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace?” a reporter asked the president.
“Yes, I do,” he replied.
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