Lithuania and Latvia conduct their first joint cross-border evacuation exercises

The authorities in Lithuania and Latvia, the two republics located in the Baltic region, announced today, Tuesday, that they will conduct their first joint exercises to evacuate residents across the border and receive them in the neighboring country, according to what the German News Agency reported.

The exercises included simulating the escalation of an unspecified threat in the Baltic region, which required the organized evacuation of residents from Šiauliai in northern Lithuania to Kekava, located just south of Riga.

Last week, a simulation of a precautionary evacuation was conducted from Daugavpils in Latvia to Pasvalis in Lithuania. In both exercises, residents were transported by buses across the border to towns in the neighboring country.

Authorities said the drills were being conducted to test evacuation plans and cooperate in responding to actual threats. Emergency services explained that they will evaluate the results to use them to improve existing procedures.

Emergency services confirmed that the training exercises were planned in advance and were not linked to any change in the security situation or any specific threat.

The training included all stages of the cross-border evacuation process; From identifying residents, registering them, and organizing their departure from one of the two countries, all the way to receiving them and temporarily housing them in the neighboring country.

Particular attention was paid to the groups most at risk. About 100 volunteers participated in the two training.

Lithuania and Latvia, members of NATO and the European Union, have been feeling threatened since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, due to their exposed positions on the alliance's eastern flank. Since then, the two countries have strengthened their defense capabilities.

French authorities said on Tuesday that international donors have pledged 303 million euros ($338 million) to repair the protective casing covering the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine, which was damaged by a drone attack in early 2025. According to what was reported by the German News Agency.

The funding was announced during an international donor conference in Paris, held in conjunction with a meeting of G7 foreign ministers.

The French Finance Ministry said 14 countries and organizations had made pledges, including significant contributions from Germany, the United States and the European Union.

The Ministry did not provide details about the value of each donor’s contribution.

More pledges are expected in the coming months, including from Greece and the Netherlands.

German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider recently said that Berlin intends to provide 50 million euros for repair work.

The casing, designed to contain radiation and ensure the safety of the site, required extensive repairs following the drone attack. The station's management estimates the cost of these repairs at approximately 500 million euros.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the drone was Russian.

It is noteworthy that on April 26, 1986, a safety test at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union, went out of control, causing a catastrophic accident at the reactor.

Radioactive clouds spread over parts of northern and western Europe, and their concentration decreased the further they traveled.

The Polish Minister of Justice announced on Tuesday that the perpetrator of the Krakow massacre last week was influenced by Anders Behring Breivik, a far-right extremist who is classified as a neo-Nazi, and who in 2011 caused the worst massacre in Norway since World War II, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.

Minister Waldemar Zurek said in an interview with reporters: “The security services were able to access the terrorist’s computer, and we noticed that he browsed websites about Anders Breivik,” adding that investigators found on the attacker a “Gadsden flag,” which is a historical American flag with a yellow background with a drawing of a coiled snake in the middle, ready to attack, and the phrase “Don’t tread on me.” This flag has sometimes been associated with far-right movements.

On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring Breivik detonated a bomb near the government headquarters in Oslo. As a result, 8 people were killed, before he proceeded to kill 69 people, most of them teenagers, after he opened fire in a summer camp affiliated with the Norwegian Labor Party Youth League on the island of Utoya.

Regarding the crime that took place in Krakow, Poland, on Saturday, the Minister of Justice said that the investigations include the circle surrounding the attacker and any possible ideological connections that could have influenced his committing this act.

Without ruling out other hypotheses, especially psychological disorders, Zurek believed that there was “very strong evidence” confirming what the authorities had previously announced regarding the attacker’s adoption of far-right ideas.

It is likely that the perpetrator of the operation had “pre-planned” the crime, noting in particular that he possessed 12 magazines for semi-automatic weapons and about 500 bullets, which far exceeds the needs of an archer who frequents the shooting range.

The perpetrator of the Krakow attack was armed with a rifle, wearing a military uniform, and wearing a mask and a helmet when he carried out the attack. He opened fire from his car at passers-by near a square usually crowded with tourists in the historic center of the city.

The shooting resulted in the killing of 6 people, including a Briton and an Austrian woman, and 15 others were injured, including 5 foreigners of British, Portuguese, Russian, German, and Austrian nationalities.

It is suspected that the killer killed 9 people in total, after 3 other bodies were found in his house about 150 kilometers northeast of Krakow, which turned out to belong to his parents and sister.