Lithuania ready to 'fight back' but has evacuation plans in face of Russia threats, PM tells BBC

Lithuania's prime minister has told the BBC his country has made evacuation plans in the face of threats from Russia, but added they "will not surrender" if attacked.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius told Newsnight that Lithuanians feel "constantly threatened" by Russia, in part because of drones entering the nation's airspace.

He told Newsnight if his country was attacked, "we will fight back... we will engage". But he said there were plans for a "variety of scenarios" and used an example of getting elderly citizens out of cities "smoothly" and avoiding traffic jams.

Lithuania, a Nato member, shares a land border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

"We're thinking about a variety of scenarios, not all of them are being discussed very much publicly," Sinkevičius told the BBC.

"We face concrete threats, not on a daily basis, but we're experiencing them and it's a true reality for us."

Sinkevičius also said the UK needed a "shift in the mindset" in terms of its approach to defence, but noted that Lithuania was "closer to the border and closer to [the] threat".

It comes just a week after Nato fighter pilots shot down a drone that entered Lithuania's airspace.