Recent drone sorties over Lithuania and its neighbours have sparked fears of a full-scale Russian attack, prompting the small Baltic country to encourage the building of bomb shelters.

Not every community has yet heeded the call, but residents showed AFP the basement of an apartment block in Lithuania's capital Vilnius where they were readying a bunker in case of war.

"People wanted to have a sense of safety, to know they could hide from bombings and war for at least a few days," said Vidas Magnavicius, the head of the building's residents' association.

"We agreed we needed to prepare," he explained, recalling how the neighbours met to hatch a plan after Russia invaded another neighbour, Ukraine, in February 2022.

Lithuania, a former Soviet republic turned EU and NATO stalwart of 2.9 m

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