Lithuania says it will shoot down smuggling balloons from Russia’s ally Belarus

PM blames Alexander Lukashenko for not stopping ‘hybrid attacks’, which closed Vilnius airport four times last week

Lithuania’s prime minister has authorised the shooting down of smuggling balloons that cross the border from Russia’s ally Belarus, calling them “hybrid attacks” in an echo of the term used to describe Moscow’s destabilisation efforts.

Incursions by balloons carrying contraband cigarettes prompted the Nato and EU member state to close Vilnius airport four times last week and shut its border crossings with Belarus temporarily.

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Lithuania shuts airports and Belarus border after weather balloon incursion

Vilnius and Kaunas airports closed down after balloons drift into country’s airspace for third time this month

Lithuania closed its two biggest airports on Friday and shut crossings on its border with Belarus after helium weather balloons drifted into its territory, the third such occurrence in the Baltic state this month.

European aviation has repeatedly been thrown into chaos in recent weeks by drone sightings and other air incursions, including at airports in Copenhagen, Munich and the Baltic region.

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Napoleon’s soldiers who died in Russian retreat had unexpected diseases, study finds

Analysis of DNA from teeth of troops buried in mass grave suggests soldiers had paratyphoid fever and relapsing fever

When Napoleon ordered his army to retreat from Russia in October 1812, disaster ensued. Starving, cold, exhausted and struggling with sickness, an estimated 300,000 soldiers died.

Researchers now say they have identified two unexpected diseases among soldiers who died in the retreat – paratyphoid fever and relapsing fever – which provide fresh insights into their plight.

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Risk of undersea cable attacks backed by Russia and China likely to rise, report warns

Spate of incidents in Baltic Sea and around Taiwan are harbinger for further disruptive activity, cybersecurity firm says

The risk of Russia- and China-backed attacks on undersea cables carrying international internet traffic is likely to rise amid a spate of incidents in the Baltic Sea and around Taiwan, according to a report.

Submarine cables account for 99% of the world’s intercontinental data traffic and have been affected by incidents with suspected state support over the past 18 months.

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Lithuanian hunters refuse to kill bear that ambled around capital for two days

Government issued permit to shoot young female who entered Vilnius, despite only small number left in Baltic country

A young female bear caused a stir after wandering out of the forest and into the leafy suburbs of the Lithuanian capital.

For two days, the brown bear ambled through the neighbourhoods of Vilnius, trotted across highways and explored backyards – all while being chased by onlookers with smartphones and, eventually, drones.

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German troops start first permanent foreign deployment since second world war

Heavy combat unit of 4,800 soldiers and 200 civilian staff inaugurated in Lithuania on Nato’s eastern flank

The German chancellor has visited Lithuania to mark Berlin’s first permanent foreign troop deployment since the second world war, as he called on allies to dramatically expand their efforts to bolster European defences against a hostile Russia.

As a crowd waved Lithuanian, German and Ukrainian flags, Friedrich Merz and his defence minister, Boris Pistorius, attended a ceremony launching the official formation of an armoured brigade aimed at protecting Nato’s eastern flank.

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EU ministers call for coordinated action on Russian ‘shadow fleet’ in Baltic Sea

Fleet of tankers sailing under flags of convenience estimated to carry up to 85% of Russia’s oil exports

Calls to step up and coordinate the interdiction of the unflagged Russian “shadow fleet” of oil tankers in the Baltic Sea were made this weekend before the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, which is expected to impose sanctions on 180 ships, taking the total number of ships sanctioned by the EU to 350.

The efforts to stop the fleet, estimated to be carrying as much as 85% of Russia’s oil exports and so funding roughly a third of Russia’s budget, is seen as a critical proof of the EU’s determination to keep the economic pressure on Russia.

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Vehicle of four US soldiers missing in Lithuania found submerged in water

US army says search efforts are ongoing after Nato secretary general tells reporters servicemembers were ‘killed’

The vehicle of four United States soldiers missing in Lithuania has been discovered submerged in water, the US army said, adding that search efforts for the soldiers were ongoing.

The soldiers went missing during a military drill during an exercise at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, a town located less than 10km (6 miles) from the border with Belarus.

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Ocean rower Aurimas Mockus stranded by cyclone off Australia’s east coast safely rescued

Lithuanian rower’s two-day wait to be rescued off Queensland comes to an end

A Lithuanian rower has been rescued off the Queensland coast after he was caught in a tropical cyclone’s 130km/h winds and monster waves.

Aurimas Mockus ran into trouble about 740km east of Mackay while attempting a 12,000km Pacific Ocean crossing from San Diego to Brisbane in his solo rowing boat.

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‘I need to survive’: rower attempting to cross Pacific activates emergency beacon off Queensland near Cyclone Alfred

Australian navy ship heading to Coral Sea after Aurimas Mockus calls for help one week out from reaching Queensland

A Royal Australian Navy ship is bound for the Coral Sea after a Lithuanian man attempting to row across the Pacific Ocean from San Diego to Brisbane got into trouble.

Aurimas Mockus activated his emergency beacon on Friday night about 740km east of Mackay, Queensland, and 90km west of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

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DHL plane crash in Lithuania may be result of sabotage, says German minister

Baerbock raises possibility of accident or ‘hybrid incident’ after Vilnius cargo plane crash kills one and injures three

The fatal crash of a DHL cargo plane as it approached Vilnius airport could have been the result of sabotage or an accident, Germany’s foreign minister has said.

A Spanish crew member was killed and three others injured when the German plane crashed into a house near the Lithuanian capital on Monday.

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Swedish police focus on Chinese ship after suspected undersea cable sabotage

Investigators gather evidence at two Baltic sites while Danish navy is shadowing Chinese cargo ship

Swedish police investigating the believed sabotage of two fibre-optic undersea cables in the Baltic Sea have said a Chinese ship off the coast of Denmark was “of interest” as Danish officials said its navy was shadowing a Chinese-registered cargo ship.

The ship, identified by Denmark as the Yi Peng 3, passed the two cables on Sunday and Monday about the time it is believed they were severed in a suspected malicious attack. The ship has been shadowed by a Danish navy vessel since it was located in waters between Sweden and Denmark.

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We assume damage to Baltic Sea cables was sabotage, German minister says

Boris Pistorius says ‘no one believes’ two undersea fibre-optic communications cables were cut accidentally

Germany has said it has to assume that damage to two undersea fibre-optic communication cables in the Baltic Sea since Sunday was an act of sabotage.

Two cables – one between Finland and Germany, the other between Sweden and Lithuania – were severed on Sunday and Monday, raising suspicions of a malicious attack, though authorities initially declined to speculate.

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Lithuania President Nausėda wins landslide re-election in vote shaped by Russia fears

Incumbent, who beat challenge from prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė, says Lithuania’s independence a ‘fragile vessel that we must cherish’

Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nausėda has won re-election, official results showed, in a vote marked by defence concerns over neighbouring Russia.

The count published by the electoral commission showed that Nausėda won 74.6% of votes with 90% of ballots counted after polls closed on Sunday in the second-round vote.

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Lithuania set for presidential election run-off with incumbent Nausėda clear favourite

Results put Gitanas Nausėda ahead but he will face Ingrida Šimonytė in a run-off election on 26 May

Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nausėda, appears on course for a second term after a first round of voting, following a campaign dominated by the war in Ukraine and fears over neighbouring Russia.

Nausėda won 44% of votes cast in Sunday’s election, electoral commission data showed, while prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė won 20%. As no candidate won more than 50% the pair will head to a run-off election on 26 May.

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Western military trainers could go to Ukraine, Lithuania minister says

Gabrielius Landsbergis also backs David Cameron and Emmanuel Macron on standing up to Putin

Lithuania’s foreign minister has raised the prospect of an ad hoc coalition of western countries sending military training personnel into Ukraine backed by ground-based air defence, days after Russia took an increasingly strident tone against what it sees as the threat of deeper western involvement in the war.

Speaking to the Guardian after meeting his British counterpart, David Cameron, in London, Gabrielius Landsbergis also backed the British foreign secretary for saying that Ukraine could use British-made weapons against Russia; remarks that alongside Emmanuel Macron refusing to rule out western troops in Ukraine prompted the Kremlin to threaten UK assets and order a tactical nuclear training exercise.

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Poland and Lithuania pledge to help Kyiv repatriate Ukrainians subject to military draft

Strong rhetoric is boost for Ukraine reinforcement drive but it is not clear by which mechanism émigrés could be sent back

Poland and Lithuania have said they are prepared to help Ukrainian authorities return men subject to military conscription to the country, after Kyiv announced this week that it was suspending consular services for such men who were now abroad.

“We have suggested for a long time that we can help the Ukrainian side ensure that people subject to [compulsory] military service go to Ukraine,” Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Poland’s defence minister, told the television channel Polsat, though he did not elaborate on what mechanisms could be used.

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EU ministers warned not to relax support for Ukraine amid requests for air defence aid

Member states warned at meeting not to be complacent but ministers stop short of pledging Patriot missiles

EU ministers have been warned against “relaxing” support for Ukraine but stopped short of new pledges to supply air defence systems that Kyiv is urgently seeking to defend itself against relentless Russian bombardment.

The Ukrainian government has said it is running out of US-made Patriot air defence missiles as Russia intensifies attacks on infrastructure and cities.

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Belarusian held in Poland suspected of ordering hammer attack on Navalny ally

Two Polish citizens detained earlier on suspicion of attacking Russian opposition figure Leonid Volkov in Lithuania

A Belarusian national has been detained in Poland on suspicion of ordering the attack on a top Russian opposition leader, Leonid Volkov, on Moscow’s behalf, the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, has announced.

Volkov, a close aide of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was briefly admitted to hospital last month after he was ambushed and attacked outside his house in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. The assailant smashed open Volkov’s car window and repeatedly struck him with a hammer, breaking Volkov’s left arm and damaging his left leg before fleeing the scene.

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Lithuania blames Putin for Vilnius hammer attack on Navalny aide

Baltic country’s state security says assault on Leonid Volkov was probably to stop Russian opposition influencing election

Lithuania has blamed Moscow for the bloody hammer attack on a longtime aide to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny outside his home in Vilnius.

Leonid Volkov, 43, was in hospital briefly after he was attacked with a hammer by an unknown assailant on Tuesday night in the Lithuanian capital.

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