8 May 2026

Litgrid posted an adjusted net profit of 8.2 million euros in the first quarter, reversing a 27 million euro net loss a year earlier. Revenue rose to 108.7 million euros, and the grid operator said the stronger inflow will help fund network security, the Harmony Link interconnector and lower tariffs.

Lithuania’s State Security Department warned that the risk of sabotage, provocations and information attacks is rising around Russia’s Victory Day. The agency said Kremlin officials and propagandists have sharpened rhetoric against Lithuania and the Baltic states, while false narratives are already spreading about alleged repression of people in Lithuania who mark May 9. In domestic politics, Social Democrat leader Mindaugas Sinkevičius has faced early backlash over his leadership style and his pledge to decide within a month whether to keep governing with Remigijus Žemaitaitis and Nemuno Ausra.

The dispute over platform work is intensifying, with business groups warning that tighter rules for couriers and ride-hailing drivers would raise prices and reduce flexibility. In environmental policy, parliamentary committee chair Linas Jonauskas is pushing stricter lithium-battery collection after fires in the waste sector, including mandatory fire detection, thermal monitoring and separate storage for hazardous batteries from 2026. In business, Galio Group said last year’s net profit rose 1.8 times to 28 million euros, while Hollister Lithuania was named Investor of the Year.

In sport, Vilnius club Rytas reached the FIBA Champions League final. At the border, officers detained 18 migrants after discovering an excavated passage from the Belarusian side, and a court allowed the detention of four more illegal migrants transported by a Latvian citizen.

Lithuania said it is continuing talks with the United States on the possible purchase of Tomahawk cruise missiles. A new warning was issued over Belarusian activity near Lithuania’s border, while Vilnius doctors performed the country’s first stitch-free heart valve implant procedures.

Russia brought a 72-hour unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine into force at midnight, tying it to Moscow’s Victory Day events, but Kyiv rejected the truce. Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had already recorded more than 140 Russian strikes by 7 a.m. yesterday, and officials in the Sumy region declared a day of mourning after five civilians were killed.

Ukrainian officials say Moscow’s latest pause broke down almost immediately, echoing an earlier truce announced over the past week. Zelensky also said Ukraine would respond with long-range strikes inside Russia. Russia said today that almost 100 flights in and out of Moscow were still suspended after Ukrainian drone strikes and airspace disruption left more than 14,000 passengers stranded for a second day. The disruption hit on the eve of tomorrow’s Victory Day parade and forced tighter security around Moscow and the parade route.

In the EU, Lithuania is preparing to sign a nearly 6.4 billion euro SAFE defence loan agreement, with the money earmarked for a division-sized force, the Baltic defence line, military mobility and infrastructure for Germany’s brigade. In Norway, police detained a Chinese woman accused of spying on satellite data. Spanish police seized the largest cocaine shipment ever confiscated in Europe. In Estonia, the country registered the birth of its first cloned horse.

Outside Europe but still on the security agenda, U.S. naval forces intercepted three Iranian drone and missile attacks on American ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. The U.S. military later struck two Iran-flagged oil tankers, saying they were trying to break an American naval blockade, and Donald Trump said the ceasefire in place since April 7 remains intact.

The Kremlin confirmed a ceasefire with Ukraine and agreed to a prisoner swap. Poland will receive nearly €44bn for military strengthening. Lithuania’s ice hockey team secured its place in the World Championship Division IA with a win over Poland.

The U.S. military said today it fired on two Iranian-flagged oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman after they tried to breach a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. Donald Trump then said he was temporarily halting Operation Freedom, the escort mission for ships stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran’s military warned it would target any foreign force approaching the waterway. Trump called Iran a country run by “madmen” but also said a ceasefire remained in effect and Tehran had agreed not to seek nuclear weapons. Brent crude climbed back above $100 a barrel today as talks on reopening the world’s most important oil chokepoint remained stuck.

U.S. Central Command said yesterday that more than 50 commercial ships had already been turned back or sent to port under the same operation. Separate reports pointed to another collision involving U.S. and Iranian warships in the region and to additional U.S. strikes on empty Iranian tankers. The Economist reported today that intercepted GRU material indicates Russian help for Iran’s weapons work and intelligence links through military intermediaries and technical transfers. The disclosure reinforced earlier Israeli and U.S. assessments that Tehran is accelerating its nuclear and missile preparations.

In Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province, a volcano eruption killed three people and left 10 missing. Rescue teams are searching hillsides and villages after ash and rock debris blocked roads, while local authorities assess the risk of further landslides and wider evacuations.

Hezbollah struck Israel for the first time since the ceasefire, while US and Iranian forces exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran called it a reckless military adventure, and Iranian media later reported fresh isolated clashes in the Gulf.