Balloons packed with smuggled cigarettes keep drifting into Lithuania from Belarus, causing travel chaos.

Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said at a press conference today that the Baltic country will shoot down the balloons and close the borders.

Vilnius Airport was closed four times last week after balloons containing as many as 1,600 black-market cigarettes were blown into its airspace.

Airport officials said on Monday that 170 flights have been disrupted by the balloons, impacting more than 27,000 passengers.

On Sunday alone, 47 flights to and from Vilnius Airport were cancelled, delayed or diverted, with radars picking up 66 objects travelling from Belarus into Lithuania. Ruginienė added following a meeting of the National Security Commission: ‘We are sending a signal to Belarus that

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