Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a detailed examination of the incidental related to the Ukrainian drone, which, according to Vilnius, came from Poland and exploded in Lithuania. “Poland does not let operations to operate on and over our territory without the express consent of the Polish state”, said the head of the government, however, without confirming the Lithuanian reports of the drone flight route.
On Sunday morning, the Lithuanian army detected an unidentified flying object that was moving northwards. In consequence to the threat in the air, the Lithuanian authorities declared an alert, NATO fighters were picked up for flight. After the unmanned man disappeared from the radar, remains of the device were found in the Juodžionys village in the Pasval area. They damaged a passing car, but no 1 was injured.
Lithuania's Prime Minister Mindaugas Sikevičius reported that the drone was of Ukrainian origin and carried explosives. Vilnius estimated that the device could have participated in the Ukrainian attack in the St. Petersburg area, and then deviated from the course due to Russian electronic warfare disturbances. Ukraine confirmed that during the anti-target operation in Russia, operators were losing contact with drones. A spokesperson for the Ukrainian MFA Heorhi Tychyj expressed regret over the incidental and apologized for the threat and concern associated with it.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk besides referred to the incident, who announced close cooperation with Lithuania to explain the incident. He stressed that all the circumstances of the event would be carefully examined and Poland would anticipate full cooperation from Ukraine. The operational commander shall request detailed explanations. – Without emotion, without bad intentions, but I will be very insistent, demanding full explanations on behalf of Poland – said Tusk before today's government meeting. He besides stressed that Poland does not let operations in its territory or in its airspace without the express consent of the Polish authorities. As he pointed out, this rule applies regardless of who would carry out specified activities.
Yesterday, MON informed that the chief of the ministry had instructed the operational commander of types of armed forces to conduct a detailed analysis of events from the night of 17 to 18 October in the area of the Polish-Lithuanian and Polish-Ukrainian border. The analysis includes data from available radar systems operating in this part of Poland and neighbouring countries and is conducted in cooperation with Lithuania. At the same time, the ministry "distorted" the information appearing in the media space, that according to sources in the MON-Dron, which was found on Sunday in the territory of Lithuania, was to take off from the territory of Lithuania. "We call for non-multiple false speculation. The designated drone, which crossed Lithuania's airspace on October 18th in the morning and exploded in the country, was a Ukrainian drone. Ukraine apologized to Lithuania for the incident" – the Ministry of Defence said.
Following a Sunday incident, the Lithuanian government asked NATO to launch a consultation on changing the rules for shooting down objects violating national borders. “It is likely to be carried out within a month,” said Prime Minister Sinkevičius. The change of procedures would let decisions to be taken on the basis of radar indications, without the request for visual recognition of the target. Similar procedures have been introduced since October in Poland.
