The red alert came from a crisis control room buried under the Lithuanian capital. It sent the president, prime minister, mayor, school children and hundreds of thousands of other residents racing to underground shelters for cover from a fast approaching drone.<\/p>\n
Military radar showed the drone coming in from the east, where Russia and its close ally Belarus have long loomed as a menace to NATO\u2019s eastern flank.<\/p>\n
But, according to Lithuanian officials, the drone that triggered the take-cover order last month in the capital, Vilnius, began its journey in Ukraine, as did dozens of others that in recent weeks have entered the airspace or waters of Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Romania. All are members of NATO and strong supporters of the Ukrainian military\u2019s battle against the Kremlin.<\/p>\n
Ukraine has been sending swarms of drones to hit Russian ports, oil terminals and other facilities on the Baltic Sea. They fly through Belarus and Russia, hugging their borders with Poland, the Baltic States and Finland. Some drones get through, like the ones that on Wednesday slammed into St. Petersburg,<\/a> clouding the opening in the city of an annual economic conference attended by the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin.<\/p>\n But others veer off course en route, sent astray by Russian \u201cspoofing\u201d \u2014 the use of counterfeit signals to deceive navigation systems \u2014 or Russian air defenses or possibly by Ukrainian programming errors. They end up menacing countries that have been among Ukraine\u2019s staunchest allies.<\/p>\n Repeated recent episodes of drones changing direction highlight how the devices are scrambling clear lines between friend and foe, intent and result.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is our new reality,\u201d said Gen. Renatas Pozela, the director of Lithuania\u2019s fire and rescue service, the agency responsible, in coordination with the military, for alerting citizens to a possible attack.<\/p>\n On Monday, the armed forces in Latvia, Lithuania\u2019s neighbor, told residents to take cover because of a \u201cthreat to Latvia\u2019s airspace\u201d by what was thought to be a Ukrainian drone. The military said in a separate message that<\/a> NATO warplanes had shot down a drone.<\/a><\/p>\n Four Ukrainian maritime drones sent to attack Russian shipping in the Black Sea on Friday sped off course toward the coast of Romania and self-detonated, one in the port of Constanta and three out at sea. The authorities evacuated the port and ordered tourists off nearby beaches.<\/p>\n The Ukrainian Navy said it had lost control of them \u201cas a result of enemy electronic warfare\u201d and informed Romania of the mishap.<\/p>\n In Vilnius, the underground control room, equipped with computers, secure phone lines and screens showing live video feeds from across the country, is manned around the clock, overseeing a warning system to keep citizens safe in the event of fires, natural disasters and, in recent weeks, wayward drones.<\/p>\n The recent alert, sent to all mobile phones in Vilnius, was the first in the capital since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago. The authorities decided against using sirens and lifted the evacuation order after less than an hour.<\/p>\n The approaching drone, Mr. Pozela said, \u201ccame like lightning from a clear sky.\u201d<\/p>\n As a result, he said: \u201cSome people think we should stop supporting Ukraine, but this is just Russian propaganda. I think we should increase support.\u201d<\/p>\n Mark Montgomery, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral who advises Ukraine, said Ukraine had aimed to hit Russian fossil fuel facilities on the Baltic Sea even at the risk of alarming nearby friendly countries.<\/p>\n He said he hoped Ukraine could get overflight permission from countries whose airspace offers the shortest route to Russian targets, which Baltic governments have not agreed to. But, he added, \u201cIn the end when it is in your national security interest to get something done, you get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n What happened to the drone that triggered the scramble for shelters in Vilnius is not known. It has not been found, unlike a Russian drone that exploded on a frozen Lithuanian lake in March and a Ukrainian one shot down by NATO warplanes over Estonia in May. Two Ukrainian drones crashed into a fuel depot in Latvia on May 7.<\/p>\n