Ukrainian military drone crashed in Lithuania?

A drone suspected of being a Ukrainian military drone was found shot down in Lithuania on Monday, the Lithuanian government's National Crisis Management Center said, Reuters reported.

The drone was not detected when it entered Lithuania and was not armed with explosives, the head of the center, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, told reporters.

The drone was found downed in the village of Samane, the center said, which is located 40 kilometers from the border with Latvia and 55 kilometers from Belarus.

Kyiv has not yet commented on the matter.

Separately, the Latvian military said a drone alert was issued this morning along the border with Russia, and NATO fighters participating in an air patrol mission over the Baltics were dispatched to the area.

One drone briefly entered Latvia during the alert, the military said.

Since March, several errant Ukrainian drones have entered the airspace of NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which border Russia and its ally Belarus.

Kiev has consistently claimed that the errant drones were launched to strike military targets in Russia, but were diverted due to Russian interference.

Some of the drones have crashed and exploded, including two that hit a Latvian oil depot on May 7 and caused a fire.

The Baltic states said in April that they had never allowed their territories and airspace to be used for drone attacks on targets in Russia.

Because of stray Ukrainian drones, the government of Latvia, Lithuania's neighbor, fell three days ago.

Latvia's center-right Prime Minister Evika Silina announced her resignation at the time, leading to the collapse of her coalition government, just months before elections scheduled for October.

"I resign, but I do not give up," Silina, who has been prime minister since 2023, said in a televised address on May 14.

Silina's government will remain in a technical mandate until her successor is elected.

Silina dismissed Defense Minister Andris Spruds last weekend after two errant Ukrainian drones flew into Latvia from Russia and exploded at an oil storage facility.

The drones were not detected by the Latvian military as they flew in from Russia, the army chief said earlier, and Silina accused Spruds of not developing anti-drone systems quickly enough.

In response, Spruds' Progressive Party withdrew support for Silina's government, leaving it without a majority in parliament and exposing it to a possible vote of no confidence.

Silina came to power at the head of a broad coalition after the resignation of Krišjanis Karinš, also from her center-right New Unity party, in August 2023.

In a SKDS/LSM opinion poll conducted last month, the Progressives were the second most popular party in the country with 6,9 percent of voter support, ahead of New Unity, which was sixth with 5,9 percent support.

The opposition party Latvia in First place was leading the poll, with 8,9 percent support. The survey showed 26,1 percent of voters were undecided, while 16,2 percent said they did not intend to vote.