26 September 2026

Lithuania ran nationwide evacuation drills on Saturday, with field exercises in Vilnius district, Pagėgiai and eight other municipalities. The scenario included sabotage at a protected site, an industrial blast, a chemical release and rescues from rubble. PAGD deputy chief Kęstutis Agintas said the drill exposed a need for a coordination штаб, more resources and changes in tactics. Border municipalities say road congestion and transport bottlenecks would be the main obstacle in a real evacuation.

Kaunas district separately tested its reception system at a centre set up in A. Mitkus progymnasium. More than 100 participants from Švenčionys, Kazlų Rūda and Vilkaviškis were expected, and the municipality says it could host up to 23,000 evacuees. It is the first practical nationwide test of the detailed state evacuation plan approved this year.

Lithuanian scientists warned today that the coming winter could be unusually erratic, with rain, frost and sudden thaws posing the biggest risk to farms. In Vilnius, police kept searching for Patrikas Janaudis and asked the public to review any relevant footage and report sightings or traces. In Jurbarkas, authorities also opened a search for another missing minor over the past day. Consumers are also being told to prepare for new phone-buying rules that could complicate purchases for some Lithuanians.

Lithuania's bishops decided to launch an investigation into crimes against minors after a pedophilia scandal. Separately, concern grew over plans to build a waste storage facility for the Astravets nuclear plant near Lithuania's border.

Zaporizhzhia was hit by a Russian strike on Saturday morning that destroyed a private house and killed two women, Liudmyla and Vasylina. City officials said a market was also struck, and a three-year-old boy, Artem, lost his mother and grandmother.

In Kyiv, a Russian drone strike on Datagroup’s offices on Friday killed four people and damaged infrastructure at one of Ukraine’s biggest telecom groups. Russia’s defence ministry said it had also struck a data centre used for intelligence processing and two telecom hubs serving the Ukrainian military, while Ukrainian providers rerouted traffic through backup paths. Another Kyiv building in the Solomianskyi district housing a data centre and communications equipment was also damaged earlier this week.

In Russia’s Rostov region, a drone attack overnight damaged the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, and governor Yuri Slyusar said about 50 drones were destroyed over the area. The refinery was temporarily taken offline after the strike, and Russian officials also reported another Ukrainian hit on a passenger train the same day. Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces said earlier this month that a drone strike in occupied Donetsk region killed Russian Major General Anton Grunis, and Moscow later confirmed his death.

France opened their Nations League group campaign with a 1-0 win over Turkey on Friday after Kylian Mbappe scored from a Michael Olise assist. Mbappe went off in the 59th minute with a knee injury, and the French federation said he will miss the rest of the camp and return to Madrid for treatment. Eurojackpot also stayed in focus, with an 80 million euro top prize on offer in draw 948 after the previous draw produced four jackpot winners outside Lithuania.

Sergey Lavrov said Russia would achieve its goals in Ukraine at any cost. Moscow also accused Europe of trying to derail talks on Ukraine.

Bill Gates said yesterday that artificial intelligence could trigger events causing a billion deaths and urged lawmakers to regulate it. He said voluntary restraint was not enough, after several leading AI lab chiefs this week also argued the pace of development should slow. AI governance is now one of the main issues during the UN General Assembly’s high-level week in New York and other capitals.

Stephen Curry agreed today to a two-year, $116 million extension with the Golden State Warriors. The deal includes a player option for the 2028-29 season, keeps Curry in San Francisco and pushes his career earnings toward a new NBA record. The Warriors said Curry accepted less than the maximum salary so the team could preserve more cap flexibility. He averaged 26.6 points and 4.7 assists in 43 games last season.

Overnight, Ukrainian drones struck the Ilsky oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region, and Ukraine’s military said a fire broke out at the site. Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said two industrial facilities caught fire in Seversky district, several people were killed and one person was hospitalised in serious condition. Kyiv says the refinery helps supply fuel to Russia’s Southern Military District, and the plant has annual crude-processing capacity of about 6.6 million tonnes.

Damascus received 23 Syrian antiquities over the past two days, including objects linked to museums in Palmyra that had been kept in France since 2011. The artifacts were handed to Syria’s National Museum during Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Damascus, and the transfer also sits within a Jordanian-Syrian-US roadmap aimed at lowering tensions and rebuilding trust after Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in late 2024.

Donald Trump rejected Iran's proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz. The United States and China also agreed to set up a communications channel for AI incidents.