Lithuanian authorities issued an emergency shelter order for residents of Vilnius on Wednesday following the detection of drone activity near the border with Belarus, marking the first major alert to send residents and leaders of a NATO capital to shelters since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The military's emergency announcement instructed people in the Vilnius region to "immediately head to a shelter or a safe place." The alert lasted approximately one hour and resulted in the closure of airspace over Vilnius Airport. President Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene were moved to secure locations, while Lithuania's parliament, the Seimas, was also evacuated according to local media reports.

Lithuanian military officials said they detected drone activity in Belarus but confirmed that no drones were observed over Lithuanian territory. Lithuania shares borders with Russia-allied Belarus to the east and Russia's Kaliningrad exclave to the west, positioning it on NATO's eastern frontier.

The incident occurs amid increasing concerns about drone incursions in the Baltic region. In recent months, Ukrainian drones targeting Russia have repeatedly crossed into NATO territory. Western officials have attributed some of these incidents to suspected Russian electronic jamming of the drones.

On Tuesday, a NATO fighter jet shot down a Ukrainian drone over southern Estonia, prompting an apology from Ukraine for what it called an "unintended incident." Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys accused Russia of "deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones into Baltic airspace" as part of what he termed a campaign against the Baltic states.

The drone incidents have created political tensions in the region. Last week, Latvia's government collapsed following disputes over the handling of multiple stray drone incidents, with the defense minister resigning after his party withdrew support and the prime minister subsequently stepping down.