STRASBOURG — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned Russia following a drone alert in Lithuania that sent residents of Vilnius and senior government officials to shelters. In a post on X, she said Russia and Belarus bore direct responsibility for drones endangering people on the European Union's eastern flank.

"Russia's public threats against our Baltic States are completely unacceptable. Let there be no doubt: a threat against one Member State is a threat against our entire Union. Russia and Belarus bear direct responsibility for drones endangering the lives and security of people on our Eastern flank. Europe will respond with unity and strength. We will continue reinforcing the security of our Eastern flank with strong collective defence and preparedness at every level." von der Leyen said.

Residents of Vilnius were told to take shelter and President Gitanas Nausėda and Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė were taken to safe locations after a suspected drone was detected near the border with Belarus. An evacuation order at Lithuania's parliament, the Seimas, was also in effect. An emergency announcement from the military told people in the Vilnius region to immediately head to a shelter or a safe place.

The drone alert lasted about an hour and led to the closure of the airspace over Vilnius Airport. Lithuania has since lifted the alert. According to a spokesperson, Lithuania's defence minister said the drone flew by Lentvaris near the capital before diverting in a different direction.

Lithuania borders Belarus to the east and Russia's Kaliningrad exclave to the west. The alert came after the military said it detected drone activity in Belarus, but no drones were sighted over Lithuania. Officials received a report from the Belarusian armed forces regarding drones potentially moving toward Lithuanian territory and neighbors in Latvia received similar information.

Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Center, said that based on altitude and speed, the object was probably a drone, though officials could not say exactly what kind it was or where it had been launched from. "Based on the parameters we saw, it's most likely either a combat drone or a drone designed to deceive systems and lure targets." Vitkauskas said. He added that electronic countermeasures cannot tell whether an explosive device detonated or not.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys offered a different account of the source of the drones. "Russia is deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones into Baltic airspace while waging smear campaigns. It's a transparent act of desperation — an attempt to sow chaos and distract from a simple reality: (Ukraine) is hitting Russian military machine hard." Budrys wrote on social media.