
Deaths in eastern Ukraine, tensions in the Baltics and diplomatic efforts to de-escalate energy
AI-generated summary
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, with increasing attacks on civilian and critical infrastructure. The NATO states are increasingly reacting to border crossings by Russian drones.
A man and a woman were killed in a Russian attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk. Another woman was injured, the head of the city's military administration, Vadym Lyach, said on Facebook. Three residential buildings were damaged.
The United Nations (UN) is considering moving its aid supplies in Ukraine to underground bunkers due to ongoing Russian air strikes. This year, Russian attacks have hit ten of the organization's warehouses and destroyed aid supplies worth millions of dollars, the UN coordinator for humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, told the Reuters news agency in Geneva.
Among the facilities hit is a World Health Organization (WHO) main warehouse with medical supplies. The UN is also examining the purchase of armored vehicles and drone defense systems. The additional costs are not included in the aid budget of $2.3 billion for 2026.
According to the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russian air defense intercepted 222 Ukrainian drones on Tuesday night. Rostov Region Governor Yuri Slyussar said a heavy Ukrainian drone attack caused several fires in the city of Taganrog. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Ukrainian military had attacked a drone factory in the city.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sees recent incidents in Lithuania and Denmark as a larger pattern of Russian aggression against Europe. The incidents were not isolated, but âpart of a broader pattern of Russian aggression and provocation against Europe that is testing our preparedness and our resolve,â von der Leyen said on Tuesday.
âRussia will find that our resolve only grows stronger.â According to the authorities, NATO fighter jets shot down a drone that had entered the airspace in Lithuania. In Denmark, an Air Force helicopter was fired at with flares while observing a Russian frigate in the Baltic Sea, according to the Foreign Ministry.
According to Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, the Western defense alliance NATO will consistently defend itself against violations of sovereignty such as those caused by the drone in Lithuania. âWe are again seeing hostilities from the Russian side, against NATO allies,â Wadephul said on the sidelines of a United Nations visit to Geneva. âIt shows once again what Russia is trying to do: it is trying to divide us and unsettle us, and neither should succeed.â NATO has shown that it can repel such attacks. âWe wonât let ourselves be unsettled,â said Wadephul.
Russia warns Western politicians and diplomats against traveling to Ukraine. You should weigh the risks âsoberly,â warns Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. The background is a Russian drone attack on a railway line that a train carrying former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Swedish former Prime Minister Carl Bildt had recently passed. Zakharova says train stations and transport infrastructure for the Ukrainian military are legitimate targets. In May, Russia asked foreign diplomats to leave Kiev because of the attacks on defense factories.
After the recent Russian drone attacks on a train from Kiev to Warsaw and on the Ukrainian border region, Poland wants to fortify its border crossings with Ukraine. âThe events of the past few days show that Russia's actions endanger the security of all of Europe,â wrote Poland's Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz on
These are military-used baskets made of metal and plastic film that are filled with sand. In addition, additional observation and guard posts are to be built near the Dorohusk, Medyka and Korczowa border crossings. According to the Ukrainian Railways, the locomotive of the regular passenger train from Kiev to Warsaw was attacked at the Jahodyn border station on Sunday. Nobody was injured.
The Ukrainian military is slow to announce successful counterattacks in the north of the Donetsk region. The commander of the 3rd Army Corps, Andriy Bilezkyj, reported in a video that Russian shock troops that had infiltrated into several villages north of the city of Lyman had been eliminated over an area of ââ75 square kilometers. Ukrainian troops recaptured the village of Serednje and an area of ââten square kilometers from Russian troops.
However, this was only part of the offensive codenamed âVivaldi,â Bilezkyj said. Because of the strict secrecy on the Ukrainian side, there had been hardly any news from this region since early summer. Only in the past few days, photos and video footage verified by military experts made it clear that Ukraine had managed to secure the city of Lyman and repel a major advance by Russian forces.
Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers have carried out patrol flights over neutral waters of the Barents and Norwegian Seas, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow. The planes were temporarily escorted by foreign fighter planes, Russian news agencies report, citing the ministry.
The Ukrainian parliament has voted to dismiss Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko. A clear majority of 317 MPs supported a corresponding request from President Volodymyr Zelensky. Kravchenko submitted his resignation about a week ago in connection with a corruption scandal in his office, but spoke of it as a âpolitical decisionâ.
On Monday, he made allegations against the Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities in a video and called on their heads to resign. He also stated that he was on a business trip abroad. Zelensky called on MPs to fire Kravchenko as quickly as possible.
According to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Russia will not stop fighting in Ukraine even in the event of peace talks. Lavrov says the so-called âmilitary operationâ will continue during such negotiations. Ukraine, on the other hand, is calling for a ceasefire as a basis for negotiations.
A Russian frigate fired two flares at a Danish military helicopter in international waters off the Danish coast on Thursday, according to reports from Copenhagen. The NATO military said the bullets narrowly missed the helicopter. The helicopter was on a routine mission to photograph the Russian frigate. The illumination ammunition is pyrotechnics, which is usually used as a warning signal at sea, the statement continued. Denmark wants to summon the Russian ambassador because of the incident. Defense Minister Jeppe Bruus announced this on the Danish broadcaster TV2.
Russia has again attacked the Ukrainian capital Kiev with drones, hitting a gas station again. One person was injured, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Tuesday on the short message service Telegram. A warehouse was also hit. According to Ukrainian authorities, Russia has recently expanded its attacks on gas stations. The authorities in Russia reported new Ukrainian attacks. In the southern Russian port city of Taganrog, a rocket attack again damaged, among other things, a warehouse belonging to the online retailer Ozon. In addition, a drone attack hit an industrial plant in the Samara region on the Volga. It was not mentioned which facility it was. There are large oil refineries in the region.
Ukraine attacked an industrial plant in Russia with drones last night. The facility and several residential buildings in the Samara region in the southeast of the country were damaged, the Russian news agency Tass reported, citing regional governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev. There were no fatalities. Around 40 drones were shot down. According to Ukrainian reports, the industrial facility was an oil refinery.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine would refrain from attacking rival energy facilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj wrote on There was initially no reaction from Moscow.
A NATO fighter jet shoots down a drone in Lithuanian airspace. The jets had previously taken off because of the sighting of the unmanned missile near the capital Vilnius, the national crisis management center said.
The US government has imposed comprehensive sanctions on Russia's VTB Bank. The Treasury Department said Monday the move was part of an effort to cut off Iran's remaining financing channels.
After US President Donald Trump's surprise announcement about a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia in their mutual attacks on energy facilities, Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelenskyj spoke of an "strong proposal" in this context. However, Ukraine is ready to support this de-escalation if Russia stops its attacks on critical infrastructure in Ukraine, Zelensky said in his evening video address.
Ukraine recognizes that Moscow is under pressure after the counterattacks on the Russian war economy. âAnd so far no one has recognized Russiaâs real will to end the war,â he reiterated his doubts about Russiaâs willingness to end the war soon. However, if the US succeeds in ending the war âsincerely and in the long term,â Ukraine will take its own steps to de-escalate.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his country is ready to stop attacks on Russia. However, Ukraine's partners must ensure through an agreement with Russia that Russia no longer attacks Ukrainian energy facilities, infrastructure and food supply routes, writes Zelenskyj on Telegram. His comments came after US President Donald Trump said Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to attack each other's energy targets. Zelensky says Ukraine is not convinced that Russia is willing to abide by such an agreement.
US President Donald Trump says Ukraine and Russia have agreed not to attack each other's energy goals. "Ukraine has agreed not to attack Russian energy targets. Russia has also agreed to do so," Trump writes on Truth Social. There was initially no official reaction from Moscow or Kyiv.
Finland is joining the French-led Forward Nuclear Deterrence Initiative, the presidential office in Paris announced. In March, France offered its European allies closer cooperation to strengthen the credibility of its own nuclear arsenal. The project provides for joint exercises, the option of a short-term transfer of nuclear weapons-capable systems to the territory of allies and closer consultations. However, it does not offer a formal nuclear protective shield based on the US model.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls on parliament to immediately approve the dismissal of the prosecutor general. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who resigned last week following corruption investigations in his office, says he has signed an official letter of suspicion against the head of the country's top anti-corruption agency. The Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities Nabu and Sapo said they had uncovered a criminal organization that operated fraudulent call centers.
AI outlook â possibilities, not facts
Poland strengthens border security with Hesco barriers.
Very likely · Within days

Iran-allied Houthi rebels have taken control of a strategically important strait on the Red Sea. Despite a lack of equipment, this was achieved through high combat morale, tactical ingenuity and the presumed use of AI.

Saudi Arabia cancels crude oil shipments after attacks on east-west pipeline. At the same time, the Houthi militia is advancing on the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, endangering global trade routes and driving up oil prices.

Unidentified people brought train traffic to a standstill in parts of the Netherlands this morning by intentionally placing pipes on tracks. A train hit an obstacle and there were no injuries. According to the police, there is no motive or statement of responsibility yet.

Ukraine has attacked targets in Russia such as an oil refinery and drone facilities. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov rejected a ceasefire during possible peace talks. At the same time there were Russian drone attacks on Kyiv with fatalities.

The verdict against former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi is expected in The Hague. The process has led to solidarity demonstrations in Kosovo and comes amid a tense domestic political situation after months of government formation crises.

The USA has imposed sanctions on the Russian VTB bank. Washington accuses the credit institution of helping Iran evade sanctions and finance terrorism.