21 May 2026

Lithuania’s Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday that the European Commission had approved a subsidised loan scheme of up to 100 million euros for farmers and agricultural companies. State lender ILTE will offer loans of up to 2 million euros for as long as 10 years, aimed at greener investment and producers that cannot secure enough market financing.

President Gitanas Nauseda said Wednesday’s air raid alert in the Vilnius region was likely triggered by a military drone that entered from Belarus, flew toward the capital and then disappeared from radar. He said the warning system did function, but the incident exposed gaps in how institutions and civilians respond under air threat, and the Lithuanian military said NATO fighter jets were scrambled. During the alert, retailer Maxima temporarily halted operations at 18 stores.

The Kaunas Regional Court ruling against Gediminas Filipavicius over sexual crimes against two women became final on Thursday after neither side appealed within the deadline. The prison term was added to an earlier 20-year sentence for abducting a girl, and the case also covered unlawful detention and other offences linked to garages in Kaunas. Former army chief Valdemaras Rupsys was found guilty of fraud and fined 20,000 euros.

In technology, Vytenis Buzas said NanoAvionics now builds 30-kilogram-class satellites and is preparing 60-kilogram and 120-kilogram models, with NASA among its customers. Vilnius-based Light Conversion is expanding after a 47.3 million euro project won major-investment status, and a new 13,000 square metre manufacturing and R&D centre is set to lift annual output to 2,700 laser systems. Public attention also turned to the death of a one-year-old Lithuanian girl during a family holiday in Egypt and to reports of acute labour shortages in fields where employers are offering a 1,000 euro monthly pay bonus.

Lithuania’s army chief Raimundas Vaiksnoras said late on Wednesday there was no evidence so far that a drone detected over the country was a provocation. Parts of Lithuania were placed under an air alert for a second straight day, while military officials said security measures had to be balanced with residents’ daily lives.

Kyiv said today it was ready for negotiations in the coming weeks, even as Volodymyr Zelensky convened an urgent meeting on a response to Russia and Belarus. Zelensky also said Ukrainian long-range strikes had forced Russia to cut oil refining and slow drilling expansion. He said Russia’s budget deficit in the first five months of 2026 was far above plan because of damage to energy infrastructure and weaker export income.

Ukraine’s 15th Artillery Reconnaissance Brigade yesterday released video showing a Russian Buk-M2 air-defence system burning after a strike near the front line. The strike left the launcher and radar module unusable. Zelensky also said Ukraine had struck Russia’s FSB headquarters and killed about 100 Russian troops in one operation. He warned of a new Russian offensive, while military analysts said Russian forces were finalising preparations for an assault on a city.

Berlin agreed yesterday to seek a 40% stake in KNDS ahead of the Franco-German arms maker’s planned June stock market listing. KNDS builds the Leopard 2 tank, and Germany wants parity with France, which is also set to hold 40%. Brussels warned yesterday that EU wind-power expansion remains too slow for 2030 targets because of permitting delays, grid bottlenecks and strained supply chains. Sexually transmitted infections are also rising rapidly across Europe, and an earthquake rattled Naples in southern Italy.

Poland demanded an apology from Israel today after national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted a video showing detained Gaza flotilla activists kneeling with their hands bound. Israel began processing hundreds of detained activists for deportation at Ashdod port, and Benjamin Netanyahu ordered them removed as quickly as possible. Estonia said today that a Russian diplomatic note over the Baltic region was a threat to the whole NATO alliance. A French court also found Air France and Airbus guilty over an air disaster that killed 228 people.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned late in the evening of possible provocations from Belarus and said Ukrainian intelligence had identified specific threats. Ukraine also said it had destroyed a Russian FSB headquarters in occupied Kherson region, while a Russian attack on Dnipro injured 14 people.

Russia’s central bank cut its gold holdings to 73.9 million ounces by May 1, the lowest level since February 2022. Moscow has sold 900,000 ounces since the start of the year, and Bloomberg estimated the sales may have raised more than $4bn. At the same time, Vladimir Putin left Beijing without the big new Chinese economic backing he wanted and without a final deal on the long-discussed Siberia-to-China gas pipeline.

Donald Trump said yesterday the US was holding off a planned strike on Iran while talks to end the war continue. Benjamin Netanyahu has kept a harder line, insisting Iran must surrender enriched uranium and other nuclear assets. Over the past day, markets have also focused on the Strait of Hormuz because any disruption there would hit global oil and shipping flows. Iran today carried out two more executions linked to the protest cases.

China today accused Washington of using sanctions and courts to pressure Cuba after the US this week filed murder charges against 94-year-old former Cuban president Raul Castro over the 1996 shootdown of two Miami-based planes. Trump this week called Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, and the aircraft carrier Nimitz has arrived in the Caribbean. The US attorney general also said Washington expects Raul Castro to end up in a US prison.

Lithuania sent air-raid warnings yesterday to residents in Vilnius and several eastern districts after a drone was spotted near the border with Belarus. NATO air-policing jets were scrambled, and similar drone alerts were reported this week in Latvia and Estonia, where one drone was shot down by a NATO aircraft operating from Siauliai. In the United States, three people died after contact with an unidentified substance.