Vilnius International Airport (VNO) has resumed operations following a brief closure on October 3–4, 2025, due to 25 weather balloons illegally entering Lithuanian airspace from Belarus.
Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre stated that initially 13 or 14 balloons were seen over Vilnius and nearby areas, with two located above the airport, Baltic News Service (BNS) reported on October 5, 2025.
The State Border Guard Service indicated that border officers detected seven of the balloons overnight in the districts of Šalčininkai, Varėna, Druskininkai, Vilnius and Lazdijai. Giedrius Mišutis, a spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service, mentioned that these balloons were carrying 12,000 packs of contraband cigarettes.
Mišutis explained that the balloons managed to travel deep into the country because smugglers launched them from further inside Belarus, rather than directly from the border with Lithuania.
“They rise vertically and cross the border at high altitude, then descend much farther inland – that’s how they reached Vilnius,” Mišutis said.
Vilmantas Vitkauskas, the Head of the National Crisis Management Center, remarked that it was unlikely the smugglers intended to disrupt airport operations, but he added that “the worst-case scenario cannot be ruled out”.
On October 6, 2025, Minister of the Interior Vladislavas Kondratovičius informed Lithuanian broadcaster LRT that the smuggling incidents involving meteorological balloons are being treated as organized crime.
The balloons disrupted 30 flights on October 4, 2025, affecting around 6,000 passengers, according to the National Crisis Management Center. Flights at the airport restarted at 04:50 local time on October 5, 2025. As of October 6, 2025, Vilnius Airport is again fully operational.
Breaches in European airspace
Although the balloons were found to be transporting cigarettes, Europe remains on high alert due to several breaches in NATO’s airspace.
On October 2 to 3, 2025, Munich Airport (MUC) in Germany was shut down overnight due to multiple drone sightings in the area, becoming the latest European airport affected by drone activity.
Previously, illegal airspace breaches were reported at several airports in Denmark, Norway’s Oslo Airport (OSL), and also in Poland, Estonia and Romania, leading NATO to enhance security monitoring along its eastern border.
In July 2025, two Russian-designed Gerbera drones violated Lithuania’s airspace, raising security concerns in the Baltic region. One drone crashed near the border, whereas another flew over the capital Vilnius before eventually crashing inside a military training ground while carrying an explosive payload of two kilograms.
