3 September 2026

Lithuanian employers are still struggling to fill jobs even as consumer demand holds up. State Data Agency figures show retail sales rose 6% in July from a year earlier in constant prices, while average nominal wages were 10% higher in the second quarter. Economists now warn that the problem is shifting from a labour shortage to a productivity squeeze as companies struggle to match staffing with faster-growing workloads. A new price comparison showed a basket of goods and services that cost 100 euros in July 2021 would have cost 144.90 euros in July this year.

Lithuania's defence ministry said it will invest about 688 million euros in military infrastructure in the Kaunas region by 2030. Nearly 230 million euros is earmarked for the national division, and another 170 million euros will go to the military campus in Rukla tied to the first division, the German brigade and air defence. Lithuania also lodged a protest with Russia over hybrid attacks against European states and the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian defender D. Smirnov, who had studied in Lithuania, was killed at the front and was soon due to become a father.

Lithuanian prosecutors have closed the criminal probe into a light aircraft flown by a Danish citizen from Vilnius that crossed into Belarusian airspace near Astravyets. Police are running a road-safety campaign through Sept. 5 focused on pedestrian crossings, school zones and residential streets, with officers targeting phone use at the wheel and failures to stop for pedestrians. In Prienai district, containers holding more than 4,000 litres of phosphoric acid were found on a forest road today, and authorities are trying to identify who dumped them and whether any chemical leaked.

A locality was left without electricity for a 12th straight day, with the situation described as critical. Separately, Poland again intercepted a Russian reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea.

Donald Trump said in Washington that he would meet Vladimir Putin only when a Ukraine peace deal is within reach. CNN reported that the Kremlin’s latest statements on the war have further undercut hopes for any near-term settlement.

In Kyiv region, a Russian drone hit the Biocon logistics complex in Boryspil district overnight and set a major medicines warehouse on fire. Ukraine said it shot down 135 of the 163 strike drones launched in the same attack, but one man was wounded in Kyiv region and another woman suffered an acute stress reaction. In Odesa, a Russian strike hit an apartment building and injured civilians, including three children. Lithuania on Wednesday handed Russia two formal protest notes over hybrid attacks in Europe and strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine, citing the attempted drone attack at Leipzig-Halle airport and the September 1 assault on Kyiv that killed 12 civilians.

In Kyiv’s Dnipro district, a shootout between officers from the SBU security service and military intelligence GUR left three people wounded. On Thursday, SBU said the target was Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps, and the State Bureau of Investigation opened a case.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told European diplomats in Brussels not to ease pressure on Alexander Lukashenko’s government. She warned that Belarus could be pulled deeper into Russia’s war against Ukraine and that security along its borders could deteriorate further. In the Gulf, Iran fired drones and missiles at targets linked to the United States in Kuwait and Bahrain after U.S. strikes on Iran, and Kuwait said its air defences intercepted the attack.

Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed senior SBU and military intelligence officials after the Kyiv shooting, and allegations were brought against security service officers. Volkswagen said it will cut 100,000 jobs.

Iran struck US-linked targets in the region within hours of an American attack on a house hosting a wedding in Hormozgan province. Four people were killed in the US strike, including a four-year-old child, and Iranian sources put the number of wounded at at least 68. The US military said it does not target civilians, while Tehran publicly threatened a harder strategy.

Donald Trump said today he would not help Britain in a new Falklands dispute because London did not back him in the war against Iran. His remarks followed reports that Washington was reviewing its position on the islands, and voters in a 2013 referendum backed remaining a British overseas territory by 99.8%. An Israeli minister also presented a plan today to evacuate Gaza residents.

Global economists are warning this week that a prolonged oil supply shock and trade friction could push the world into recession. HSBC economist Janet Henry called the Middle East conflict the biggest disruption to global oil supply in history, and the IMF cut its 2026 and 2027 growth view to 2% in April. The United States has carried out 68 strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific over the past year, killing at least 227 people. Human Rights Watch called the campaign unlawful and demanded that Washington halt it.

US ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said today that Russia is bogged down in the war against Ukraine and poses only a limited near-term threat to the alliance. An EU official said the same day that European intelligence sees no sign of preparations for a Russian military attack on NATO members in Europe.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia struck a Coca-Cola plant and called it a clear signal to the United States. U.S. regulators granted UK fintech Revolut a conditional banking license. Floods in Nepal and Tibet pushed the death toll above 1,270.