European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius said this in an interview on Espreso TV."Provocations involving meteorological balloons or hybrid military actions, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called them, are something new. It’s a new stage in all these hybrid provocations. We’ve long observed the use of such balloons — previously they were used to smuggle tobacco products from Belarus into EU countries, particularly through Lithuania and Poland. But now we see deliberate attacks targeting our airport in Vilnius," the commissioner said.According to Kubilius, when these balloons are directed using wind currents to approach the airport zone, it forces the closure of the Vilnius airport. "This obviously creates serious problems — disruptions to airport operations always hurt passengers and beyond," he added."That is why we decided to use all available instruments to convince the Lukashenko regime that it is making a big mistake by allowing such provocations against Lithuania. We have closed transit through the Lithuanian-Belarusian border and appealed to our partners in the EU and NATO. We hope these measures will have a positive effect and that the Belarusian regime will eventually stop such provocations," Kubilius concluded.BackgroundOn the night of October 5, 25 weather balloons entered Lithuanian airspace from Belarus, forcing Vilnius Airport to close for several hours and delaying or canceling some flights.On October 24, Lithuania again shut down its two largest airports and suspended operations at border crossings with Belarus after more helium balloons drifted into its territory.On October 26, President Gitanas Nausėda urged the government to consider completely closing the border with Belarus and restricting transit to Russia’s Kaliningrad region due to growing risks of smuggling and disruption to airports.On October 27, Lithuania announced the closure of the border with Belarus, citing repeated airspace violations that Vilnius considers hybrid attacks.On October 29, Lithuania confirmed that most border crossings with Belarus would remain closed until the end of November in response to recent airspace intrusions by smugglers’ weather balloons.That same day, the European Union issued a statement condemning Belarus’s provocative actions involving the balloons.On October 31, Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said Vilnius would respond decisively to any airspace violations and was preparing a new sanctions package against Belarus.