“On the evening of January 27, a raid against smuggled balloons from Belarus took place in Lithuania, the head of the National Crisis Management Center (NKVC) Vilmantas Vitkauskas called it the “most intense” of 2026.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Illustrative photo: Getty Images Source: Vitkauskas in an interview with LRT on Wednesday, January 28, “European Truth”
Details: According to the head of the NKVC, by the morning of January 28, eight smuggled balloons were detected, four people were arrested, and the remains of several balloons were also found.
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As a result of balloon incidents, Vilnius International Airport was closed three times that evening. According to the head of NKVC, more than 1,700 passengers were affected.
“It is important to note that this night was probably the most intense of the whole year, a total of 42 cases were recorded on our radars,” he said.
Vitkauskas said that in 2026, Lithuanian radars have already detected contraband balloons six times.
“Of course, the numbers were not as high as last night; there were probably a dozen or a few dozen cases, which is a really small number and had no impact on the safety of our airspace. But last night was exceptional and the airport was closed,” he added.
As a reminder, on December 9, 2025, the Lithuanian government declared a state of emergency throughout the country in connection with contraband weather probes from Belarus, which systematically violate the airspace of the country and have endangered the normal operation of the Vilnius airport.
Envoy of the US President, John Cole declared on December 13that the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, promised to stop flights of weather probes from his country to Lithuania.
They also wrote that Lithuania would agree to send to Belarus ambassador on special assignment to conduct negotiations on the problem of meteorites.