In the evening of January 27, a raid was conducted in Lithuania aimed at detecting smuggled balloons arriving from Belarus. The head of the National Crisis Management Center (NKVC), Vilmantas Vitkauskas, described this operation as the "most intense" in 2026.
Source: Vitkauskas reported this in an interview with LRT on January 28, as noted by European Truth.
Details: According to Vitkauskas, by the morning of January 28, eight smuggled balloons were detected, four individuals were detained, and remnants of several balloons were found.
Due to these incidents, Vilnius International Airport was closed three times on the evening of January 27, affecting over 1,700 passengers.
"This night was undoubtedly the most intense of the entire year; our radars recorded 42 incidents," he noted.
Vitkauskas also reported that since the beginning of 2026, Lithuanian radars have already detected smuggled balloons six times.
"Of course, these figures were not as high as last night; usually, around ten incidents were recorded, which did not affect the safety of our airspace. But last night was exceptional, which forced the airport to close," he added.
Recall that on December 9, 2025, the Lithuanian government declared a state of emergency in the country due to smuggled weather balloons from Belarus, which constantly violate Lithuanian airspace and threaten the normal functioning of Vilnius Airport.
The U.S. presidential envoy John Cole stated on December 13 that the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, promised to stop the flights of weather balloons from Belarus to Lithuania.
It was also reported that Lithuania agreed to send a special envoy to Belarus for negotiations regarding the issue of weather balloons.
