13 June 2026

Lithuania lifted its air-raid alert today after a suspected drone spotted near the Belarus border vanished from radar. The National Crisis Management Centre and the military are still checking whether the object penetrated deeper into Lithuanian airspace, while search and verification work continues in border and eastern districts.

The alert was declared yesterday morning in Vilnius County, and warning messages also went to residents in Ignalina, Utena, Zarasai, Svencionys and Alytus counties. Airspace over Vilnius airport was briefly closed during the incident, search teams were deployed near Gudziai in Varena district, and the army had warned of a possible air threat and the potential scrambling of NATO fighter jets.

Kaunas' Lituanica today finished the 2026 European Baseball Federations Cup in Kaunas with a win over Zurich Barracudas. The tournament ran from June 10 to June 13 at the VDU Valdas Adamkus Sports Centre, where Lituanica also faced clubs from Bratislava and Rybnik.

Lithuania's Dovilė Juodkaitė was elected yesterday to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which monitors implementation of the 2006 disability rights convention. In Lithuania over the past day, a minor riding an electric bicycle died in Vilnius, while hospital emergency departments are reporting a record influx of injuries as warmer weather sets in.

Lithuania’s fintech sector paid €310mn in taxes this spring, and Checkout.com has opened a technology hub in the country. Bank of Lithuania data show four investment-firm licences are now active for companies serving clients across the European Union.

In Jonava, a gunman opened fire on police officers. A large-scale search was launched in the city. President Gitanas Nausėda was rushed from a football pitch to a shelter after a threat forced matches to stop.

The UN human rights mission in Ukraine said May brought 1,575 civilian casualties, including 232 killed and 1,343 injured. That was the highest monthly civilian toll since April 2022, with missiles and drones hitting 18 regions and Kyiv.

EU officials in the past day confirmed a Reuters report that about 200 Russian troops were secretly trained in China late last year, with some later sent back to fight in Ukraine. Intelligence material and a bilateral agreement tied the training at bases in Beijing and Nanjing to drone operations. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Britain, France and Germany want to help launch Russia-Ukraine talks next month. Former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Vladimir Putin has no interest in talking to Europe because he doubts its unity.

Ukrainian officials also say Russia’s last ground supply route to Crimea has become a repeatedly targeted corridor, directly affecting military logistics in the south. In Russia’s Krasnodar region, drones struck a seaport over the past day, pushing the war again onto critical Black Sea infrastructure. Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces said yesterday that they hit a Russian troops’ training ground in occupied Zaporizhzhia and released night-attack footage.

Elsewhere in Europe, the EU is keeping its enlargement agenda moving and has agreed to begin accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova. In Estonia, buyers from five countries, including Lithuania, are circling the country’s largest cheese producers’ factories.

A Ukrainian colonel said Russia has started using missiles that are harder to detect and can strike at longer range. At the same time, Ukrainian drones hit a titanium dioxide plant in Crimea, triggering a fire and forcing workers to evacuate.

A three-year-old girl died in Burlington, Ontario, after a sudden gust of wind hit an amusement park and damaged a trampoline area. Emergency crews took her to hospital in critical condition, and the park shut the site pending a safety review.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said today that Israel was trying to torpedo a possible U.S.-Iran deal as Washington and Tehran moved closer to a final text to end the war. Pakistan’s prime minister said the wording had already been agreed, but Tehran said no signing was planned for tomorrow. The main unresolved issues are limits on Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes in exchange for an end to the fighting and the release of frozen funds.

U.S. Central Command said today it shot down two Iranian combat drones in the Strait of Hormuz after they approached American vessels. The encounter came on one of the world’s most important oil and gas routes after weeks of sharper Iranian warnings to foreign forces. Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Corps says traffic on Russia’s Novorosiya highway into Crimea has fallen by more than two-thirds over the past month. Commander Andriy Biletsky told LRT Russian forces on that route are losing an average of 337 troops a day, while Ukrainian units are hitting 1,169 enemy targets daily.

Donald Trump said a US-Iran agreement could be signed on Sunday, but Tehran soon said it would not sign that day. The White House also confirmed Trump will attend a G7 working meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy.