NATO fighter jets shot down a drone over Lithuania, the Baltic state's president said Tuesday, in the latest security incident on the alliance's eastern flank during Russia's war with Ukraine.
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – NATO members sharing a long border with Russia – have regularly reported drone incursions since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In a separate incident, Denmark said a Russian warship fired two emergency flares at a Danish helicopter in the Baltic Sea late on Monday, adding that the Russian ambassador had been summoned for clarification.
Finland's Stubb tells AFP Trump 'been very good' for NATO
Donald Trump strengthened NATO by pushing allies to increase their defence spending, Finland's president said, describing a "pragmatic" relationship with a US leader who is "a man of his own mind".
"I think he's been very good for NATO in the sense that member states have increased their defence expenditure for a borderline country like Finland," Alexander Stubb said in an exclusive interview with AFP, adding "that's a good thing".
AG Blanche dismisses questions about Russian oligarch bankrolling Trump Jr party
Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday dismissed questions about a Russian oligarch who paid for a party at Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding earlier this year and said President Donald Trump did not know the Russian.
Russia says it struck two vessels in Ukrainian ports, continues to hit rail infrastructure
Russian forces struck a ferry and a tanker in Ukrainian Black Sea ports, Russia's Defence Ministry said.
The ministry said the ferry was hit in the port of Chornomorsk and the tanker in the port of Izmail. Both vessels were being used to supply the Ukrainian military, it said.
The ministry also said Russian forces had struck a cargo train in the port of Pivdennyi and continued attacks on railway infrastructure in western Ukraine that it said was being used to transport military cargo from Europe. It provided no further details.
EU must impose 'greater cost' on Russia to curb 'hybrid attacks', Kallas says
The European Union must ramp up measures against the Kremlin, including reviewing the issuance of tourist visas to Russians, to counter Moscow's "hybrid attacks", foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
"Despite international efforts to end the war, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin chooses to intensify his war of aggression against Ukraine and hostilities against Europe, and one thing is very clear: Putin will not stop unless he is stopped," Kallas told the European Parliament.
"So, as Russia is willing to take greater risks, Europe must impose a greater cost."
France's nuclear umbrella 'creating risks' for Russia, Moscow says
Russia condemned on Tuesday a French security initiative to bring European countries under its nuclear umbrella as a "reckless" policy that was "creating risks" for Moscow.
"Of course, this is creating risks for us. And of course, we must control it," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.
Finland said this week it would join the project, which extends France's nuclear deterrent to other European countries through joint exercises.
It allows participating countries, for the first time, to temporarily host French nuclear-armed aircraft.
Western politicians need to assess risks when travelling to Ukraine, Russia says
Russia said that Western politicians and diplomats should "soberly" assess the risks of travelling to Ukraine.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was speaking two days after a Russian drone hit a passenger train on a line that had been used minutes earlier by another train carrying a group including former British prime minister Boris Johnson and former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt.
Zakharova said railway hubs and transport infrastructure serving Ukraine's military were legitimate targets, and Russia had warned foreign diplomats in May to leave Kyiv because of Russian strikes on Ukraine's military-industrial complex.
Belarus' authoritarian leader meets US envoy to push for lifting sanctions
Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko met with a US envoy on Tuesday to push for the lifting of the remaining US sanctions against his country.
Speaking at a meeting with John Coale, the US special envoy for Belarus, Lukashenko said that “we have reached quite a few agreements related to our economic ties.” He urged Washington to help unblock some Belarusian assets he said were “stuck in Citibank.”
Since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House, Lukashenko has released hundreds of political prisoners in a series of US-mediated deals that also lifted some US sanctions.
EU chief slams 'reckless' Russia after drone, flare incidents
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday decried Russia's "reckless and dangerous behaviour" after a Denmark said a Russian frigate fired flares at a helicopter and NATO shot down a drone over Lithuania.
"Once again, Europe woke up to reckless and dangerous Russian behaviour," von der Leyen wrote online, calling the incidents "part of a broader pattern of Russian aggression and provocation against Europe".
Drone downed by NATO jet in Lithuania 'most probably' from Russia, Italian defence minister says
A drone that was shot down by an Italian NATO fighter jet in Lithuania after midnight on Tuesday morning "most probably" came from Russia, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said later on Tuesday.
Fast and fearless: Baltic defence startups innovate to counter Russian threat
Russian Tu-95 bombers overflew Barents and Norwegian seas, RIA reports
Tu-95 strategic bombers carried out patrol flights over neutral waters of the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea, Russian news agencies have said, citing the defence ministry.
Foreign fighter jets escorted the Russian bombers during parts of the flights, the ministry said.
- Drone shot down by NATO over Lithuania
- Denmark says Russian frigate shot flares at helicopter
- Danish PM slams 'reckless action' of Russian frigate firing flares
- Ukraine hit oil refinery in Russia's Syzran, says Zelensky
Russia has hit more than 500 locomotives since war began, Ukraine says
Russian attacks have damaged or destroyed more than 500 locomotives since the start of the war, Ukraine's foreign minister has said in a post on X.
"We call on all our partners to urgently assist us in finding locomotives compatible with the 1,520 mm gauge as well as in financing to accelerate the procurement of new ones," Andrii Sybiha said.
More than half of the locomotives that had been hit came under attacks this year alone, he added.
Russian envoy says Danish helicopter was at fault in frigate incident
Vladimir Barbin, the Russian ambassador to Denmark, has argued that the Danish helicopter was at fault in the incident that saw a Russian frigate fire flates at the chopper in the Baltic Sea.
"The Danish side's attempts to explain the helicopter's provocative actions against the Russian frigate as 'routine practice' give rise to serious concern about the possible consequences of such recklessness," Barbin said in written statement to AFP.
"The Russian side will thoroughly investigate all the circumstances of the incident," Barbin said while adding that "this is not the first time that Danish Air Force helicopters have carried out dangerous manoeuvres near Russian warships, when they were at sea and outside Denmark's territorial waters."
Turkey says Ukraine-Russia war spreading to Black Sea is unacceptable
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday that the spread of the Ukraine-Russia war to the Black Sea and threatening the safety of Turkish citizens was unacceptable, adding that attacks invessels in the region were harming navigational safety.
Speaking at a press conference alongside his counterpart in Baku, Fidan said Turkey had intensified its efforts to find a solution to the war through an agreement, without elaborating.
Russia welcomes Trump's 'good idea' for Ukraine energy truce
The Kremlin has welcomed what it describes as US President Donald Trump's "good idea" for a truce between Russia and Ukraine on striking energy infrastructure.
"We have seen President Trump's post. We consider it a good idea, a good initiative. We are in contact with the Americans," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Trump on Monday said the warring sides had agreed to a truce, despite neither Kyiv nor Moscow having said a deal had been struck.
Russia will not pause fighting for any Ukraine talks, Lavrov warns
Russia will not stop fighting in Ukraine while any potential talks take place, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned, dismissing Ukrainian demands that a ceasefire be the starting point for talks.
Lavrov plans to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Ukraine lawmakers back removal of prosecutor general amid standoff with anti-graft agencies
Ukrainian lawmakers have approved the removal of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, a day after a standoff with independent anti-corruption agencies.
The vote was supported by 317 lawmakers, with 226 needed for a majority.
Ukraine launches offensive push in north of Donetsk region, commander says
Ukrainian forces have launched an offensive operation in the north of the eastern Donetsk region, the focal point of intense battles during more than four years of the war, a senior military commander has said.
The third army corps cleared an area of 75 square kilometres (29 square miles) of Russian infiltration groups and recaptured a further 10 sq km, claimed Brigadier-General Andrii Biletskyi.
Biletskyi said that the area was in the north of the key strongholds in the region — the so-called "fortress belt" of cities Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the capture of which would bring Russia closer to its goal of seizing the entire region.
The claimed advance could not be independently verified.
Ukraine hit oil refinery in Russia's Syzran, says Zelensky
Ukraine struck an oil refinery in the Russian city of Syzran, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in a post on X.
Zelensky also reported a strike on a drone production facility in the Russian city of Taganrog, and on a drone preparation and launch site in the Oryol region.
Unnamed targets were also hit in the Black Sea, he said.
Yesterday's key developments:
- Ukraine is ready to halt attacks on Russian energy infrastructure if Moscow does the same, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday , after US President Donald Trump announced an apparent agreement between the two sides.
- Kyiv also warned that intensifying Russian strikes on Ukraine’s rail network were worsening each week.
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NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Russian drone strikes near the Ukraine-Poland border would drive the military alliance to increase its support for Kyiv.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters, AP)
