The government of Lithuania, which is a member of the U.S.-led NATO alliance, said Monday that it will start shooting down unidentified balloons that enter the country's airspace, after a number of them allegedly launched from neighboring Belarus forced the repeated closure of a major airport.

Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene warned Monday that any further balloons detected would be shot down after operations at Vilnius International Airport, which serves the capital city, were halted a total of four times last week.

"Today we have decided to take the strictest measures, there is no other way," Ruginiene told journalists, according to Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT , calling the incidents "hybrid attacks" and saying her country could discuss invoking the collective defense clause in th

See Full Page