25 June 2026

Russia’s defence ministry has added two Vilnius-registered companies, HaKi and Kort, to a list of firms it says support Ukrainian attack-drone production. The listed addresses in Vilnius point to an office building, and Lithuania’s foreign ministry called the move part of a broader hostile campaign against Lithuania and the Baltic states.

Gitanas Nausėda travels to Gdansk today for a Ukraine reconstruction conference with regional partners. Lithuania is pushing to widen the agenda to include defence industry, energy and Ukraine’s integration into the European market. Lithuania has already allocated €75mn from a planned €150mn package to Ukraine’s demining fund, and some equipment and protective gear has already been delivered.

In Klaipėda, a vessel at anchor demonstrates strong US commitment to Lithuania’s security, according to the US ambassador. Attention has also turned to a Lithuanian volunteer killed in Ukraine while serving alongside other foreign fighters.

Police and firefighters recorded a string of deaths across Lithuania over the past day. Bodies were found in Kaunas, Vilkaviškis, Ignalina and Lazdijai districts, three people were recovered from water in Joniškis, Kaunas and Akmenė districts, two more bodies were pulled from Visaginas Lake and the Nevėžis river, and human remains were found in a swamp near Pagėgiai. A Kaunas court this week ruled in a case linking alleged gang figures to an explosion at the family home of Henrikas Daktaras and to two planned murders. Prosecutors have also sent to court a case involving nearly 21 kilograms of cocaine tied to a cross-border trafficking chain.

In the economy, Lithuania’s labour market remains strong in 2026, with record employment and continued wage growth.

A drone attack halted Lukoil’s largest oil refinery in Russia. In Lithuania, four people drowned over the Joninės holiday and firefighters tackled 68 blazes. Social Democrat Tadas Jakučionis said the new government could replace at least six or seven ministers.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today that Russia is moving some air-defence systems to Moscow, Valdai and other high-value sites after Ukrainian long-range drone strikes. A day earlier, Ukraine said it had hit a gas processing plant and two satellite communications centres inside Russia, and Zelenskyy said Moscow had also redeployed defences to protect the Kerch bridge in occupied Crimea.

Crimea was hit by Ukrainian drones over the past day, knocking out power in several towns and forcing the closure of the Kerch bridge. Ukrainian defence officials said the attack struck a fuel terminal, a power substation and a gas distribution site, while Russian-installed authorities reported fires and outages across the peninsula. Russia and Crimea also reported five deaths today in the wider wave of raids. In Russia’s Tyumen region, an oil depot caught fire today after a night-time drone strike, adding to recent attacks on oil facilities in Krasnodar region and near Moscow.

In Vienna yesterday, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence sees Russia preparing a new mass strike and urged partners not to delay air-defence deals. Iran warned today that ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz without permission could be detained, even after the waterway reopened to commercial shipping last week under a US-Iran deal. The European Union this month paid Ukraine nearly 2.8 billion euros under the Ukraine Facility, and Brussels expects the next disbursement cycle to begin before the end of the month. Extreme heat is set to affect about 94 million people across Europe in the coming days.

Russia launched a ballistic missile strike on Kyiv late on Tuesday. At the same time, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Belarus was expanding military infrastructure near Ukraine’s border and must stop.

Venezuela said at least 164 people were killed and 971 injured after two powerful earthquakes. The worst damage was in La Guaira state north of Caracas, where rescuers pulled three children alive from rubble and kept searching collapsed homes and public buildings. Western Venezuela was hit over the past day by quakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5, and authorities declared a state of emergency in several districts. Officials shut Simon Bolivar International Airport, suspended classes for several days and inspected roads, bridges and power lines needed for evacuations and aid access.

In Russia, Vladimir Putin said in Moscow on Thursday that Ukrainian drone strikes on oil infrastructure over the past three months had succeeded in destabilising society. Fuel shortages were reported across Russia, Crimea has capped civilian fuel sales since June 21 and queues formed at Moscow petrol stations after attacks on refineries and logistics routes. Over the past few days, Russian air defences said they had shot down 301 Ukrainian drones, and all four Moscow airports briefly suspended flights. Moscow has since reinforced air defences around the capital and other key sites.

US markets are waiting for Jerome Powell’s comments today, which could determine whether the first Federal Reserve rate cut begins in summer or slips into autumn. Investors have leaned on softer US inflation and labour data, but Fed officials remain divided over how quickly to ease policy. In Washington, the Senate backed Donald Trump’s position on war powers over Iran, while Trump asked Congress for about $88 billion, mostly for the war with Iran. In sport, South Africa reached the next stage of the World Cup in a historic result, and Mexico won for a third time to knock the Czech Republic out.

Russia launched another ballistic missile attack on Kyiv, with explosions heard across the city. In the Strait of Hormuz, an unknown projectile struck a ship.