Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene acknowledged "deficiencies" on Thursday in the country's response to the alert generated by the drone incursion registered on Wednesday, which forced the population to take shelter, including in anti-aircraft shelters. The leader stressed that it is time to "learn lessons" from this "hard day" marked by the incident.
"Indeed, yesterday it was shown that we have certain deficiencies. Not everyone is sufficiently prepared for an emergency situation, for a difficult day," she stated before the Lithuanian Parliament, the Seimas, which analyzed the government's response to the crisis experienced on Wednesday.
Ruginiene stressed that the Executive takes "every deficiency" detected very seriously and confirmed that a review of the alert system and its operation in the different regions of the country is already underway. "Response procedures of institutions are being reviewed and the availability of shelters is being checked," she explained to the deputies.
"We are learning from the lessons learned. I sincerely hope that in the face of every threat, we will maintain calm, solidarity, and vigilance," she added, while defending the work of the emergency services. However, she admitted that in some cases panic or agitation may have hindered a fully adequate reaction and acknowledged that certain shelters were not ready for use.
"There were problems that we will all have to solve. We have time for that. Now we must remain alert and take concrete measures," the head of government remarked, as reported by the LRT channel.
On the other hand, the Minister of Defense, Robertas Kaunas, explained before the Seimas that the drone that violated Lithuanian airspace was detected "both by air force radar and by NATO allies' radars." He specified that it was the fighter jets of the NATO air patrol mission in Estonia that reacted to the incident, due to the bad weather conditions in Lithuania.
"The drone was located and an Air Force helicopter collaborated in the pursuit. All necessary permits were granted to the Armed Forces to carry out the mission according to their judgment," detailed the head of defense, who added that the search for the aircraft continues, after radars lost its track, presumably due to flying at a very low altitude.
In any case, Kaunas defended the management of the crisis, insisting that no widespread panic occurred, although failures were recorded in a situation that, in his opinion, was handled globally correctly.
In the same vein, the Lithuanian president, Gitanas Nauseda, pointed out in a televised message on Wednesday night that the episode with the drone represents an "important lesson" for both citizens and institutions of the country and asked to "memorize well" what happened.
Following these events, Ruginiene ordered local governments to keep shelters open 24 hours a day, following recent drone incidents in several Baltic countries, which led, for example, to the declaration of a red alert in Vilnius on Wednesday.
"It is essential to ensure that municipalities ensure that all shelters are accessible and open (...) and we will demand that shelters remain open 24 hours a day during this delicate period," he stated at a press conference after the security commission meeting.
The incident activated air raid sirens in Vilnius and other areas of the country and forced several Lithuanian leaders, including Nauseda, to be moved to bunkers. The alarm was lifted a few hours later, once the immediate risk was ruled out.