24 May 2026

Julija Stašelienė died on Saturday at 92, and Lithuania’s biathlon federation confirmed her death on Sunday. She won the Lithuanian cross-country title 12 times and in 1961 became the first Lithuanian woman to reach the Soviet master of sport standard, in Almaty. She later coached skiers from 1964 and biathletes from 1975, mentoring athletes who went on to win world junior and Olympic-level honours.

Lithuania’s military on Sunday continued searching in Panevėžys and Utena counties for a possible drone that entered the country’s airspace on Thursday. About 70% of the search area had been checked by today, with military police, riflemen’s union units and unmanned aircraft involved. At the Pabradė training area, troops spent a week testing new counter-drone and counter-balloon systems in the “CUAS February 26” exercise. The drills followed last summer’s incursions by two Russian Gerbera drones into Lithuanian airspace, one of them carrying explosives.

Three sizeable burglaries were recorded on Saturday in Mažeikiai, Panevėžys district and Vilnius, and police opened pre-trial investigations in all three cases. In Mažeikiai, thieves smashed a ground-floor window and stole about 20,000 euros and two laptops, while the total loss in one Vilnius burglary is still being calculated. A young woman is also being sought in central Kaunas.

Lithuania’s beach soccer team beat the Czechs to guarantee survival in Division A. President Gitanas Nausėda said after Russia’s mass attacks on Ukraine that terror remained the main weapon of war. In health news, a 32-year-old man drew attention after suffering two heart attacks after dismissing early warning signs as simple fatigue.

Laurynas Kasčiūnas said late on Friday that the leaked data from Lithuania’s state registries included information on intelligence officers. He also said he saw signs of Russian involvement in the theft and outlined potential targets.

Kyiv was hit overnight by one of Russia’s biggest recent air assaults, with Ukraine’s air force saying it shot down most of the 675 drones and 56 missiles launched. Apartment blocks, a shopping centre, an office building, a dormitory, a petrol station, garages and warehouses were damaged across the capital, where rescue crews were still clearing debris in the morning. At least four people were killed and more than 60 injured in the latest strike on the city.

The attack also inflicted a heavy cultural and educational toll in Kyiv, damaging a Chernobyl museum, churches, universities, a theatre and a monastery. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy publicly mocked Vladimir Putin after the strike, responding to Moscow’s promise of revenge attacks on Ukraine. In one of the day’s starkest accounts of Russian war crimes, Ukrainian film-maker Alisa Kovalenko said a Russian officer raped her in captivity in Donbas in 2014 and told her she should be grateful she was not killed.

Kovalenko said she stayed silent for nearly two years before Russia’s full-scale invasion pushed her to gather other women’s testimonies for her film Traces. She said the film documents not isolated abuse but repeated sexual violence and torture linked to Russian forces in occupied areas and detention sites.

In sport, Oleksandr Usyk beat Rico Verhoeven in Riyadh yesterday by technical stoppage in the final seconds of the 11th round. Verhoeven had led on the judges’ cards for much of the fight, and the referee’s intervention immediately triggered controversy across Europe.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Russian strikes damaged the agency’s offices in Kyiv. Lithuanian Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas said stolen data from the Centre of Registers was likely the result of a Russian operation. Latvia is weighing a ban on bus travel to Belarus, and similar discussions are underway in Lithuania.

Kyiv and surrounding areas were hit by a Russian missile and drone attack on Sunday morning that killed four people and injured more than 60. Kyiv region governor Mykola Kalashnyk said the assault used attack drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, and rescue crews were still working after dawn at damaged homes.

U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks were still deadlocked on Sunday over the Strait of Hormuz after Tehran rejected Washington’s demand that the waterway be reopened as a condition of any deal. Donald Trump said the agreement was largely negotiated, but Iranian officials said the nuclear file and the strait were still outside the scope of the opening talks. The current draft would extend the ceasefire for 60 days and restore shipping and oil sales, but a final text has yet to be sealed.

A blast derailed a train near Quetta in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Sunday, killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 70. Pakistan’s rail ministry said the engine and three coaches came off the tracks, while two carriages overturned and caught fire. A separatist group claimed the attack, and security forces sealed off the area as rescue teams worked through the wreckage.

In China’s Shanxi province, at least 82 people were killed in a gas explosion at the Liushenyu coal mine, and rescuers were still searching for two missing workers. Flooded sections of the shaft slowed an operation involving hundreds of rescuers and medics, while Xi Jinping ordered a full investigation. Near the White House, a gunman opened fire at a security checkpoint on May 23 and was shot dead by Secret Service officers after they returned fire, with investigators still trying to establish his motive. Pyongyang has also put Kim Ju Ae back at the centre of North Korea’s power display over the past 48 hours by showing her beside Kim Jong Un at a military-linked public event.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Donald Trump backs scrapping any Iran nuclear deal and wants to eliminate Tehran’s nuclear threat. Tourists were killed in an attack in a South African national park. China launched three astronauts to its space station on the Shenzhou-23 mission.