Lithuania temporarily closes Vilnius airport over unknown drone and balloons
In Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, a temporary closure of one of the country’s main airports—Vilnius Airport—was enacted on the morning of November 5 due to the appearance of an unidentified drone.
According to officials, the incident occurred around 9:50 local time, and operations resumed nearly half an hour later, at 10:18.
Tadas Vasilyauskas, the airport’s director, stated that the incident had a minimal impact on flights, affecting only two routes.
Details are still being clarified, but there was no reason for panic.
The background to this event involves a prior situation on October 30, when Vilnius Airport had to halt activities due to approaching balloons, which Lithuanian authorities described as a hybrid attack from Minsk.
In response, Lithuania closed almost its entire border with Belarus for a month, allowing exceptions only for diplomats, transit Russians heading to Kaliningrad, and EU citizens returning to Lithuania from neighboring countries.
Lithuanian aviation authorities and the national airport operator plan to take legal actions to recover damages caused by these unidentified flying objects.
This situation highlights the increasing tensions in the region and the ongoing hybrid attacks from Minsk and Moscow aimed at destabilizing Lithuanian security and regional stability.