14 April 2026

Vilnius on Tuesday signed €69.8 million of contracts with MAN Truck & Bus to buy 112 electric buses, one of the biggest such orders in Lithuania. The first buses are due by the end of 2026, with the full fleet to arrive by the end of 2027.

Lithuania’s labour market sent a sharper warning in the first quarter as employers filed 26 collective layoff notices covering 1,200 workers. The employment service said that was 53% more notices and twice as many affected staff as a year earlier, with manufacturing accounting for nearly half.

Vilnius police have spent the past two days handling a case in which a man identified as Deimantas allegedly threatened his mother, who told officers she is now afraid to sleep at night. On the edge of the capital, investigators are also trying to establish when and how thieves stole goods worth €155,000 from inside a company’s premises.

In the courts and prosecution system, former MP Kazys Starkevičius was served with suspicions and is also named in a separate bribery investigation. In Klaipėda, hospital workers were found guilty of abuse, fined €5,000 and had assets seized. African swine fever has now been detected in 22 municipalities, while almost half a million people who left Lithuania’s second-pillar pension system have already withdrawn nearly €3 billion.

A motorcyclist was killed in a crash in Utena district. Lithuania’s women’s national football team beat the group favourites at home and moved top of their World Cup qualifying group after a goal from Jonušaitė.

Hungary’s opposition leader Peter Magyar and his Tisza party won 138 of 199 seats, ending Viktor Orban’s 16-year hold on power. Brussels sees the result as a possible turning point on Ukraine aid, rule-of-law disputes and Hungary’s broader relationship with the EU.

Ukraine’s 14th Army Corps said on April 13 that units near Myropilske in the Sumy region had withdrawn to prepared defensive lines after heavy fighting and Russian superiority in manpower and equipment. Russian forces on April 14 struck one of the largest dams in the Kharkiv region with six guided aerial bombs, and officials began assessing damage to water infrastructure and possible downstream restrictions. Overnight on April 14, drones hit an electric substation in occupied Melitopol, causing a fire and cutting power to parts of the city. Explosions were also heard for hours in Crimea, including Simferopol, Feodosia and Kerch.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy is in Berlin today for talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the next round of military and financial support for Kyiv. Before the visit, he warned that without united backing for Ukraine, Europe risks sliding into a “Russian world.”

In testimony published today, Ukrainian woman Nadia said children in Russian-occupied areas are forced to sing the Russian anthem at school. She said neighbours denounced her after learning her brother served in the Ukrainian army, and that her family escaped only after two years with help from a volunteer network operating out of occupied territory.

Russia's State Duma approved amendments creating a new legal basis for Kremlin military operations abroad. At the same time, Russian strikes in Ukraine killed at least seven people, including a child, while 12 people were seriously injured in Dnipro.

Iran said today that damage from the war with the US and Israel has reached about $270 billion, or roughly €230 billion. Tehran said the figure is still preliminary as assessments widen across energy, military and civilian infrastructure.

US-Iran talks in Islamabad ended without a deal after more than 14 hours over two days. Washington demanded a long moratorium on Iranian uranium enrichment, and Tehran rejected it. Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey are now trying to line up another round before the ceasefire deadline. In The Hague yesterday, Iran pressed the International Court of Justice to award compensation for asset seizures and other losses it ties to US actions and those of its allies. Donald Trump said yesterday that 34 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz in a single day even as his administration kept up a blockade of Iranian ports. The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre said traffic through the strait was not being fully impeded.

North Korea fired several missiles from a destroyer today after earlier drills this month involving short-range ballistic systems and cluster-munition configurations. South Korea and its allies are assessing range and trajectory to determine whether the launches directly threaten regional bases. Moon sample research also drew fresh attention over the past day after findings on water traces and the history of the Earth-Moon system strengthened the case for new return missions and tighter laboratory analysis.

Direct Israel-Lebanon talks began with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as broker. At the same time, Hezbollah said it had struck 13 cities in northern Israel.