The line promoted by Heorhy Tykhy, spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, and retailed throughout Western media, is that this was a mere “incident” of a drone going astray. “We regret the incident that occurred this morning in Lithuanian airspace, which may have resulted from Russian electronic warfare diverting drones during an operation against legitimate military targets in Russia,” Tykhy posted on X. “We apologise for any disruption, risks, and concern this may have caused.”
The Belarus-based Military Summary Channel on YouTube, citing Russian and Ukrainian military blogs, reported that as many as half of the 520 drones in the October 17-18 attack approached St. Petersburg from the Gulf of Finland after crossing through the airspace of the Baltic countries. As a result, the Russians were unable to intercept them until they were almost on the city. According to Russian Telegram channels, one of the fires set by the Ukrainian drone swarm was at Gazprom’s Portovaya LNG Terminal on the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland adjacent to the head of the currently non-operational Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has made no statement on the matter, but analyst Oleg Ivannikov of the Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences told the Rosbalt news agency there is reason to suspect that there are NATO, particularly British, units operating in all three Baltic countries and assisting the Ukrainian drone attacks.
The Lithuanians, meanwhile, insist that “the drone” (singular) came into Lithuania from Poland, an assertion the Poles have not yet confirmed. “We have credible evidence that the drone crossed the Polish border,” Deividas Matulionis, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda’s national security adviser, told Baltic News Service on Monday. He was commenting on a report by Polish news portal polsatnews.pl, which cited sources in Poland’s Defense Ministry as saying the drone had been launched from Lithuanian territory about 30 kilometres from the Polish border and had not entered Polish airspace. The drone reportedly damaged a car traveling on a rural road in northern Lithuania. Kaunas also said NATO fighter jets were scrambled after the object was detected, but pilots couldn’t see it visually because of poor weather.
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Did Ukrainian Drones Pass through Baltic States and Poland on their Way to St. Petersburg?
[CJO]
Oct. 19, 2026 (EIRNS)—Are Poland and the Baltic states allowing Ukraine to use their airspace for drone attacks on St. Petersburg, Russia? A drone that crashed in Lithuania on Sunday morning while Ukraine was launching a massive drone attack on an oil terminal, a logistics hub and a data center has been identified as Ukrainian, not only by Lithuanian authorities but also by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which blamed Russia for it ending up in Lithuania despite the fact that Lithuania doesn’t even border Russia–Kaliningrad notwithstanding.
“We regret the incident that occurred this morning in Lithuanian airspace, which may have resulted from Russian electronic warfare diverting drones during an operation against legitimate military targets in Russia,” Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry posted on X. “We apologise for any disruption, risks, and concern this may have caused.”
The Military Summary Channel claimed that half of the 520 drones attacked St. Petersburg from the direction of the Gulf of Finland after crossing through the airspace of the Baltic countries. As a result, the Russians were unable to intercept them until they were almost above the city. MSC didn’t cite sources but reported that both Russian and Ukrainian military bloggers showed such a route.
The Lithuanians are also insisting that the drone came into Lithuania from Poland, an assertion the Poles have not yet confirmed. “We have credible evidence that the drone crossed the Polish border,” Deividas Matulionis, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda’s national security adviser, told Baltic News Service on Monday. He was commenting on a report by Polish news portal polsatnews.pl, which cited sources in Poland’s Defence Ministry as saying that the drone had been launched from Lithuanian territory about 30 kilometres from the Polish border and had not entered Polish airspace. The drone reportedly damaged a car traveling on a rural road in northern Lithuania. Matulionis also said NATO fighter jets were scrambled after the object was detected, but pilots couldn’t see it visually because of poor weather.
The incident in Lithuania follows one in Romania on Saturday where Romanian F-16s shot down two drones over the country’s territorial waters in the Black Sea. Defence Minister Radu Miruta said on Sunday the drones were likely latest generation Russian drones, flying at speeds similar to fighter jets. “The ones from last night were flying at 450 km/h, which leads us to think they were Russian-made Geran-4 drones with a turboprop engine,” Miruta said. “This is the first time we’ve shot down drones like these.”
