24 September 2026

A Breda court on Wednesday released 20-year-old Lithuanian Reinaldas Jurkus pending trial over a June crash in Zeeland in the Netherlands in which his BMW hit a group of children. Three 12-year-old pupils and a primary school headteacher were killed, and investigators have not confirmed his claim that a steering failure caused the crash, with speed under scrutiny.

Robertas Kaunas said two U.S. battalions will arrive in Lithuania at the end of October, including one heavy unit with Abrams tanks. The defence minister said the deployment will remain at about 1,000 troops, run on a nine-month rotation and that the next U.S. ground rotation should be clarified in December. Parliament on Thursday also set the date for municipal council and mayoral elections. The prime minister said he will discuss Lithuania’s national evacuation plan with Poland.

Vilnius Regional Court on Thursday opened the criminal case against priest Tadas Svedavicius in a closed hearing, with prosecutors alleging 34 offences against 11 victims. The case includes six civil claims, and investigators say the alleged conduct ran from 2002 to 2025. Vilnius District Court opened the Zirmunai crash trial, where defendant Dalius Miezinis admitted guilt and prosecutors said he was formally diagnosed with epilepsy this year. The court heard that the car was travelling at about 60.2 km/h when it mounted the sidewalk, and that Miezinis had already been found guilty in an earlier fatal crash.

Lithuania’s Supreme Court over the past day left in place its refusal to hear Via Lietuva’s appeal in a dispute over about 820,000 euros linked to the Tarande tunnel financing deal. The appellate court had ruled the state road operator had no valid claim because the tunnel was not completed by the end of 2024. Vilnius University researchers said on Thursday they had created the first genetically modified vertebrates in Lithuania, using zebrafish lines in which about 70% of genes have human counterparts.

Lithuania and the United States signed four economic cooperation agreements in Miami. President Gitanas Nauseda said Lithuanian laser, fintech and defence companies could serve as reliable US partners.

Kyiv was hit by Russian ballistic missiles early on Thursday, killing at least two people and injuring three medical workers. Debris fell across three districts, damaging a hospital facade, a nearby clinic and part of a residential building, while rescue crews were still checking a private yard in Dniprovskyi district for anyone trapped under rubble. In Ukraine's Odesa region, Russian strikes hit civilian infrastructure and injured two people, with local authorities checking for power and water damage.

In New York, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine had reached an agreement on a package of missiles for Patriot air-defence systems, but did not name the supplier. After talks with NATO chief Mark Rutte, he said Patriot remains the only effective shield against ballistic missiles and that Ukraine needs interceptors almost every day. At the UN Security Council on Thursday, Lithuanian foreign minister Kestutis Budrys said Russia is systematically testing NATO's alertness and readiness to respond.

Poland said the next 48 hours are decisive in talks with Washington over a permanent US military base. Deputy defence minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka said a US delegation linked to Pete Hegseth is already assessing sites in western Poland, while deputy minister Pawel Bejda said Warsaw would propose more than two locations and that funding and NATO operational plans still need to be agreed. On Wednesday, Poland's defence minister also said Warsaw would help evacuate civilians if Russia attacked Lithuania or another Baltic state and would push for NATO Article 5 to be activated.

In Germany, Berlin Brandenburg Airport halted flights for 45 minutes on Wednesday after a drone was spotted nearby. The airport has logged the highest number of drone sightings in Germany in the first half of this year.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Kyiv had received two documents showing Russia had prepared a detailed plan to strike Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Poland said a Russian helicopter violated its airspace, while Emmanuel Macron said possible Russian attacks could not be ruled out. Belarus granted clemency to 13 political prisoners.

Shin Ohashi broke the men's 200m breaststroke world record in Tokyo on Thursday, swimming 2:04.83 to win his second Asian Games gold. The 17-year-old Japanese swimmer cut 0.65 seconds off Qin Haiyang's 2023 mark and finished almost four seconds clear of the field.

Kyiv was hit before dawn by Russian ballistic missiles and drones, killing two people, with one body found in the parking lot of a damaged maternity hospital. Ukrainian officials said blasts and falling debris struck several districts of the capital and partly destroyed a residential building. Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the targets included civilian infrastructure, apartment blocks, a maternity hospital, energy sites and logistics. At the UN General Assembly in New York, Zelensky said Vladimir Putin is the only obstacle to ending the war and urged governments to cut Russian revenues and military capacity. He also said Russia had launched 63,000 attack drones at Ukraine so far this year.

Donald Trump is hosting Xi Jinping at the White House today, with tensions over artificial intelligence, trade and Iran overshadowing the meeting. At UN events, technology executives also warned that artificial intelligence could become a danger to humanity. In Iran, supreme leader adviser Yahya Rahim Safavi said any renewed U.S. or Israeli strike could push the war into the Indian Ocean. A coalition of 18 maritime nations warned in the past two days that sanctions disputes and conflicting readings of maritime law are already spilling into commercial shipping routes and supply chains.

The United States also acknowledged multiple suicide attempts aboard an aircraft carrier after 286 days at sea. In Kazakhstan, a fatal incident during military exercises killed at least nine soldiers.

Dozens of envoys walked out during Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the United Nations. At the same time, the Houthis said they had launched dozens of missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia, while 80 countries at the UN called for full restoration of shipping in the Persian Gulf.