VILNIUS: Residents of Lithuania’s capital city Vilnius on Wednesday briefly fled to underground shelters as transport ground to a halt after the defence ministry sent a drone alert to mobile phones.

Such alerts have become increasingly common in recent months in the Baltic states as Ukraine steps up strikes against Russian targets in the Saint Petersburg region, close to Estonia and Finland.

But Wednesday’s alarm was the first in an EU and Nato member country since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022 to trigger an order for the population — including the president, prime minister and MPs — to take shelter.

Political leaders were ushered into bunkers following a drone alert last year, but not the general population. Lithuania’s allies rallied around the country on Wednesday, with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen saying Russia and Belarus bore “direct responsibility” for any drone incidents on the bloc’s eastern flank.

Nato chief Mark Rutte added that even if the drones crash-landing in Baltic countries were launched by Ukraine, it was not the country’s fault. “(The drones) are there because of the reckless, illegal, full-scale attack of Russia,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2026