Other MoA event in Vilnius area, Lithuania on Sun 18th October 2026

In Lithuania, an attempt to set fire to a base station of the Starlink satellite communications system - which connects satellites to the global Internet - was thwarted. Authorities in Vilnius believe that russia, the aggressor country, is behind this.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius reported this on Facebook on Sunday, October 18.

According to him, on the night of October 17–18, unknown individuals attempted to set fire to a facility belonging to a Lithuanian company where Starlink equipment is stored.

“The security services had warned this company about possible attacks; security was stepped up, and the attempt failed. Our security services are closely monitoring the activities of hostile states and taking measures to protect people and their property,” Sinkevičius wrote.

He did not specify who exactly attempted the arson or which company was targeted by the perpetrators.

Reuters reports, citing Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Center under the Lithuanian government, that Vilnius is treating the attempted arson of a Starlink base station as an act of sabotage linked to russia.

According to him, at around 2:00 am local time, unknown individuals attempted to set fire to a Starlink base station located on the outskirts of Vilnius. The fire was quickly extinguished. The blaze caused only minor damage.

“We understand that this was not a routine arson but an act of sabotage,” Vitkauskas told reporters.

He added that the incident is linked to previous arson attacks on Starlink stations in Bulgaria and Poland.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on October 14, Bulgarian authorities stated that unknown individuals had broken into a Starlink ground station near Sofia and set fire to 11 of the 17 communication antennas. This station serves, among others, the Ukrainian military.

As a reminder, on September 23, a Starlink ground station in the town of Wola Krobowska, Poland, was set on fire. The station provides satellite internet access to a significant portion of Central and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine.

Later, two Turkish citizens were detained in Germany on suspicion of setting fire to the Starlink station in Poland.

According to the German publication Spiegel, agents of russian intelligence services hired members of a Turkish criminal group to set fire to the Starlink station in Poland.