Drone from Belarus found at Lithuanian military training ground

According to the media outlet, Lithuania's Minister of National Defense, Dovilė Šakalienė, announced the discovery of the drone, confirming the device came from Belarusian territory.

"We confirm the drone has been found. More information will be provided shortly," Šakalienė stated.

Preliminary reports suggest the drone is a Gerbera - a decoy model that visually resembles the combat Shahed drones and is used to deceive air defense systems.

The Lithuanian Armed Forces specified that the aircraft was found during a search operation that began after the incursion into their airspace was detected.

"However, the data will still be reviewed since the aircraft was discovered during the drone search. It will be checked for any danger, then the same procedures will be applied as with the first Gerbera found in early July," the statement says.

This is the second such incident in the last month in Lithuania involving the detection and fall of a similar drone.

Russian drones in Lithuania

On the morning of July 28, an unidentified drone was detected in Lithuanian airspace, preliminarily believed to have come from Belarus.

This is not the first incident of its kind. On July 10, Lithuanian forces had to deploy fighter jets after an unknown drone violated the country's airspace from Belarus.

Due to the threat, Lithuania's leadership temporarily moved to shelters. That drone crashed about one kilometer from the Belarusian border, near the closed Shumsk checkpoint.

Later, Lithuania's Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė confirmed the device was a Russian Gerbera drone - a decoy without combat equipment designed to distract air defense systems.

In addition, Lithuania's air defense forces did not shoot down the Russian drone because, during peacetime, air targets are only downed in exceptional cases. Authorization for a strike comes directly from the Defense Minister.