A military drone that crashed on a frozen lake in northeastern Lithuania came from Ukraine and was intended to hit Russian oil facilities, Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene said on Tuesday.
The aircraft went down near the Belarus border a day earlier. Lithuania’s military first reported that a suspected military drone had entered its airspace and crashed; no injuries were reported.
Authorities say the drone was part of a Ukrainian attack on the Primorsk oil loading terminal, one of two major Baltic Sea export facilities struck at about the same time. Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said early findings indicate the drone was one of a swarm deployed against the Primorsk port and that Russian electronic jamming likely forced it off course.
Ruginiene said Moscow still bore responsibility for the wider security fallout. “This is not a local incident, this is part of a wider security picture,” she told reporters after a National Security Commission meeting, adding it could be stated “with certainty” that the object was “a stray drone.”
The episode follows Lithuania’s request last year to NATO for additional air defences after military drones from Belarus landed on Lithuanian soil twice in July 2025. Lithuanian intelligence has previously said those drones probably entered by mistake.
A NATO member, Lithuania has been a steadfast supporter of Ukraine and says the incident ultimately stems from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.