Lithuania accused Russia of probably being behind an attempted arson attack targeting equipment for the Starlink satellite communications system. The incident took place at around 2 a.m. Bulgarian time at a facility containing satellite antennas and a control center. Flammable liquids were discovered at the site.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius said the facility has nine satellite antennas providing a connection to Starlink, which also supports and assists Ukraine. The location of the company has not been publicly disclosed.

“Russia is most likely behind the attempted arson at a Lithuanian facility where Starlink satellite communications equipment is stored,” Sinkevicius said in an interview with public broadcaster LRT.

He described the incident as apparently an act of sabotage or an attempt to divert attention. The prime minister said similar actions were being repeated across Europe and that the case was part of a Russian-led hybrid war involving acts of sabotage. He added that authorities still had to determine who issued the order, how the operation was carried out and who executed it, but that the likely party behind it had already been identified as Russia.

The incident came a week after two masked people set fire to 11 of 17 antennas near Sofia used to connect to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite system. The antennas are part of a teleport facility in the Plana mountain, less than an hour from central Sofia, and are owned by one of Bulgaria’s three mobile operators. The investigation is ongoing, and there are suspicions that the two arsonists may have already left Bulgaria. Several days later, lawmakers called for a parliamentary hearing. Prime Minister Rumen Radev, however, barred the head of the State Agency for National Security, Plamen Tonchev, from speaking about the fire so as not to interfere with the investigation, which was expected to conclude soon.

Earlier the same day, Lithuanian authorities told residents in the northern and central parts of the country to take shelter in bomb shelters for about an hour after an unidentified flying object was detected.

Lithuanian officials also reported that a drone had entered the country from Poland before crashing in the north. Its debris struck a moving car, but no one was injured.

Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said initial information indicated that the object had entered Lithuanian airspace from Poland. The debris bent the door of the car, while Prime Minister Sinkevicius said it was clear that some kind of explosion had occurred.

Asked whether the drone was of Ukrainian origin, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, director of the National Crisis Management Center, said that this was probably the most plausible explanation among all the available possibilities.

The suspected sabotage in Lithuania is the latest attempted arson attack against Starlink facilities in Europe. In September, a satellite station belonging to the network in central Poland was set on fire, and Warsaw described the incident as a deliberate act of sabotage.

The Ukrainian army relies on Starlink communications in its war against Russian forces. At the beginning of the month, Washington reduced the capacity of the system’s military division in Ukraine, prompting criticism in Europe and Kyiv.

Source: 24chasa.bg