{"id":771344,"date":"2026-09-15T10:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T10:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/771344\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T10:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T10:34:13","slug":"russian-warship-fires-flares-at-danish-helicopter-as-nato-jets-shoot-down-drone-over-lithuania-nato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/771344\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian warship fires flares at Danish helicopter as Nato jets shoot down drone over Lithuania | Nato"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Russian warship has fired two emergency flares at a Danish helicopter in the Baltic Sea, and Nato fighter jets have shot down a drone over Lithuania<\/a>, in the latest security incidents on the alliance\u2019s eastern flank linked to Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Poland also scrambled fighter jets \u201cdue to the activity of Russian jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles conducting strikes on Ukrainian territory\u201d, a day after retrieving a suspected Russian drone adrift in its waters.<\/p>\n

The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, on Tuesday condemned \u201creckless action from Russia towards Denmark\u2019s military\u201d, adding: \u201cRussian actions are meant to intimidate and divide. They will not succeed. We will not waver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Map<\/a><\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s armed forces said in a statement late on Monday that one of its air force\u2019s Fennec helicopters \u201cwas fired at with flares during a routine photographic operation of a Russian frigate\u201d which was in international waters off southern Denmark.<\/p>\n

The frigate had fired \u201ctwo flares towards the helicopter. One of the flares passed at close range to the helicopter,\u201d the military\u2019s statement added.<\/p>\n

The Danish foreign minister, Lars L\u00f8kke Rasmussen, said on Tuesday that he had summoned the Russian ambassador over the incident. \u201cRussia is gradually shifting the boundary for what they consider acceptable behaviour,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

From left to right: Gitanas Naus\u0117da, president of Lithuania; Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister and Kristen Michal, prime minister of Estonia, at the European Arctic summit in Rovaniemi, Finland on Monday. Photograph: Jouni Porsanger\/Reuters<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is completely unacceptable and could have put human lives at risk. That is something we cannot accept,\u201d he said. The Danish straits are the main sea route in and out \u200bof the Baltic Sea for commercial \u200band military shipping.<\/p>\n

They are also \u200ba major artery for global oil shipments, including from Russia\u2019s so-called shadow fleet of tankers. Danish military intelligence has said Russian warships have sailed on collision courses with Danish vessels, targeted Danish helicopters and ships with tracking radars, and pointed weapons at them in the straits.<\/p>\n

In Lithuania, President Gitanas Naus\u0117da said early on Tuesday that a drone \u201cthat just entered Lithuanian airspace was destroyed by Nato<\/a> fighter jets\u201d, adding: \u201cWith Russia intensifying its aggression against Ukraine, such readiness is vital for our region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citing preliminary data from Lithuania\u2019s national crisis management centre, LRT public radio said the drone had come from neighbouring Belarus and was heading west, before being shot down by Italian fighter jets taking part in a Nato mission. It fell in a rural area near Lake Kaunas, in the centre of the country.<\/p>\n

After a drone alert was issued in the capital Vilnius and surrounding region, the country\u2019s foreign minister, K\u0119stutis Budrys, thanked allies and said the operation was the \u201cbest example of allied unity and resolve in action \u2013 sending a clear message that Nato stands vigilant, committed and ready\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia \u2013 all of which are Nato members and share a border with Russia \u2013 have regularly reported drone incursions since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A Nato fighter shot down<\/a> a Ukrainian drone over Estonia in May.<\/p>\n

European officials have said Russia has been diverting Ukrainian drones meant to strike industrial facilities and oil terminals in the St Petersburg region on the Gulf of Finland.<\/p>\n

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Poland, meanwhile, said early on Tuesday it had launched \u201caviation operations\u201d in its airspace because Russian jet-powered drones were \u201cconducting strikes on Ukrainian territory\u201d. The operations were \u201cpreventive\u201d and concluded without any violation of Polish airspace being observed, it later said.<\/p>\n

They came after the country\u2019s defence minister, W\u0142adys\u0142aw Kosiniak-Kamysz, said on Monday that the military had located \u2060and recovered a drone from the Baltic Sea near the \u200bbeach in Rusinowo, close \u200cto the coastal town of Jaros\u0142awiec.<\/p>\n

TV picture of a suspected Russian drone lying on a Baltic Sea beach after it was retrieved by the Polish military on Monday. Photograph: AFPTV\/TVN\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cPreliminary inspection indicates that it is a Russian military \u200cdrone,\u201d Kosiniak-Kamysz said. An armed forces spokesperson said the drone appeared to be a Gerbera, a cheap long-range aerial drone made of materials such as plywood and foam.<\/p>\n

Gerbera drones are often used as decoys, but can also carry explosives. This one was recovered by a hydrographic vessel, the military said.<\/p>\n

Poland\u2019s prime minister, \u200bDonald Tusk, has \u200brepeatedly said Nato countries \u200bshould expect an increase in provocations from Moscow. A \u200bRussian drone hit \u200ca passenger \u200btrain<\/a> on \u200bUkraine\u2019s border with Poland on Sunday, shortly after former the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, and other foreign diplomats had used the same line.<\/p>\n

Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Russian warship has fired two emergency flares at a Danish helicopter in the Baltic Sea, and Nato…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-771344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}