Nato jets scrambled as Lithuania tells residents to go to shelters over flying object

Nato jets were scrambled in response to an unidentified flying object over Lithuania on Sunday morning, with residents in the central and northern parts of the country told to seek shelter.

The order to shelter lasted about an hour, and the government later said the object was likely a drone that entered from Poland.

Poland said it was also investigating the incident, but Nato jets were unable to visually identify the object due to cloudy conditions.

During the "red alert" Nato fighters were scrambled to the area and Kaunas airport, near Lithuania's second-largest city, was temporarily closed.

Northern neighbour Latvia briefly issued a "yellow" air warning in some regions bordering Lithuania.

Ukrainian drones have repeatedly entered Nato airspace ‌in the Baltic region in ⁠recent months, with Kyiv saying they were steered ⁠off course by Russian signal jamming. Such incidents have stoked concerns that Russia's war on Ukraine could spill over Nato's borders.

Adam Withnall18 October 2026 11:06

Blaze at St Petersburg oil sites as Ukraine launches more than 1,000 drones at Russia

Ukrainian attacks set an oil export terminal ablaze in St Petersburg on Sunday, as Kyiv launched more than 1,000 drones across Russia in one of its largest ever aerial bombardments.

The attack comes amid deepening tensions between Ukraine and Washington, with Donald Trump criticising Kyiv for its strikes on Russian oil infrastructure.

One person was killed and five more were wounded in the attack, which sparked fires at both the Petersburg Oil Terminal and the city’s Ruchi oil depot, said local governor Alexander Beglov.

A logistics centre belonging to Russian retailer Ozon and a data centre for local tech giant VK were also targeted, both companies confirmed.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had destroyed 1,015 Ukrainian drones over 15 Russian regions, as well as the illegally-annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black Sea, overnight and on Sunday.

Adam Withnall18 October 2026 10:54

Zelensky working to arrange three way meeting with Putin and Trump

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said the US was working to arrange a three-way meeting involving him, US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, potentially in the Middle East, Europe or the United States.

Despite the latest executive order by Trump that has put fresh Russian sanctions on hold, bilateral talks between the US and Ukraine have not broken down.

Zelensky said Ukraine's lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, had met on Friday with US presidential envoy Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law.

Namita Singh18 October 2026 10:00

Rubio defends US agreement with Russia over diesel supplies

Marco Rubio has defended a separate US agreement with Russia to increase diesel ​supplies to global markets, aimed at easing fuel prices that have climbed amid the war with Iran and ‌disruptions to energy supplies.

Under the agreement, Donald Trump said Russia ⁠initially would supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel to the US, followed by shipments in November ⁠and beyond.

"That diesel is going to be sold one way or the other," Rubio said. "The only difference is how much of it the United States was ‌going to get."

Rubio said the diesel ​deal and sanctions waiver reflected the challenge of managing conflicts ‌in the Middle East and Ukraine that have disrupted global ​energy supplies.

"These conflicts around the world are starting to crash into each other," he said.

Namita Singh18 October 2026 09:00

Rubio says Trump to take up to 60 days to weigh Russia sanctions

The day after waiving sanctions and tariffs related to Russian exports, US president Donald Trump said on ⁠Saturday he has yet to announce a final decision on the matter.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio said officials want more time to evaluate the situation.

Rubio said that the president will use up to 60 days to assess the economic impact of Russia-related sanctions and tariffs that he waived a day earlier.

"A lot of you don't know what my decision is yet, but we'll figure it ⁠out, and you'll figure it out," Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago ​club ⁠in Palm Beach, Florida.

The waiver comes just weeks before November's midterm elections, with Trump under pressure over high energy prices as war with Iran disrupts global oil supplies.

“I think the president wants to take the 60-day period ‌of time to sort of analyse what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy and even to the US economy," Rubio told reporters before boarding a plane for a trip to Uzbekistan.

Namita Singh18 October 2026 08:00

Trump’s deal with devil 'keeps getting dirtier'

"Beyond irresponsible," said senator Thom Tillis on social media, outraged about Donald Trump’s decision to pause sanctions on Russia.

"What part of enforcing a law passed 86-11 by the Senate does the President and his advisers not understand?" Tillis said.

"It's unconscionable that this administration is capitulating to a Russian dictator who illegally invaded Ukraine.

"Republican senator John Cornyn of Texas said "Lindsey would be appalled," referring to the late senator Lindsey Graham, who worked tirelessly on the bill before he died this summer. The bill is known as the Lindsey Graham Russian Sanctions Act.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a statement that "by giving the Russian economy life support, Trump's deal with the devil keeps getting dirtier."

Senator Elizabeth Warren said Trump is "thumbing his nose" at Congress and "enabling Vladimir Putin to continue his war of aggression." She urged her colleagues to take action to reverse course.

Namita Singh18 October 2026 07:00

Next steps uncertain with Congress out until after Election Day

Donald Trump's actions come as Ukraine is bracing for a stark winter confronting Russia's ongoing attacks on its energy infrastructure to heat homes and keep the lights on.

The next steps are highly uncertain with the House and Senate on recess until after Election Day. Trump had indicated he was waiving the sanctions indefinitely, citing national security concerns.

Later Saturday, Trump told reporters that they don't know what his decision is yet regarding sanctions in Russia, despite the executive order he signed Friday night.

"We'll figure it out, and you'll figure it out. But it's a very good decision, and it's going to be a decision that's good for the country, and I think good for the world," Trump said at a fundraising dinner at his Florida estate.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio, separately addressing reporters on Saturday before departing for Central Asia, suggested Trump would take 60 days to review the global and US economic impacts of imposing the proposed sanctions on Russia and other countries, in light of tariffs already in place.

Pointing to high energy prices and the Iran war, "we need that period of time to sort of study all this and figure out what the right combination is," he said.

Namita Singh18 October 2026 06:00

Poland says it is verifying a possible violation of its airspace

Poland ⁠is verifying a possible violation of its airspace by ⁠an ​unidentified ⁠object, the army said on ⁠Sunday.

So far, there has been no confirmation of a violation of the airspace, the army said in a post on X.

The army said it had deployed a ground search-and-rescue team in the south of ‌Lublin, which is ​conducting ‌searches for the ⁠possible crash site ⁠of the object.

Namita Singh18 October 2026 05:41

Zelensky hopes for revival of Russian sanctions

Ukraine's president expressed hope that sanctions that were supposed to take effect on Sunday targeting Russia's economy could be revived.

Volodymyr Zelensky described Donald Trump's move to put sanctions on hold as unfortunate, but did not directly criticise the US leader despite deepening tensions between Ukraine and Washington in recent days.

"A decision was unfortunately made in America to completely disregard the Lindsey Graham Act, which was supposed to impose truly effective pressure on Russia to bring this war to an end," Zelensky wrote in a statement on social media.

“This Act could have helped enormously – and still can! But it needs to actually work, and every voice in support of it matters.”

He separately thanked Democrats and Republicans who supported the legislation, saying that blocking it would encourage Russia to continue killing and that limiting Ukraine’s ability to retaliate would not bring peace.

“Nevertheless, we very much hope — and I personally hope — that the president of the United States of America will do everything possible to make (Russian president Vladimir) Putin stop the killing, stop the attacks on our energy infrastructure, and end this war,” he said.

It took almost a year for Lindsey Graham to persuade Trump to agree to the Russian sanctions package.

It was designed to impose steep tariffs on countries that import large amounts of Russian oil and energy products and was promoted as a way to halt the flow of funds fuelling Putin's four-year war against Ukraine.

Namita Singh18 October 2026 05:00

Trump's decision to waive Russian sanctions outrages Congress

President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to waive sanctions on Russia days before they were to take effect drew outrage on Saturday from members of Congress, which had overwhelmingly passed the legislation in a bipartisan display of American support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.

Lawmakers from both parties blasted the executive order late on Friday, the latest in a series of steps that the Republican president has taken drawing the United States closer to Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Trump recently announced a diesel deal with Putin to import Russian energy in a long-shot effort to curb high gas prices in the US that are roiling the midterm elections on 3 November.

"I think it's clear Russia is the aggressor, and we've got to do everything we can to put economic pressure on Russia," senator Rick Scott said in an interview with the Associated Press. "So it's not the first thing I would be doing.”

Namita Singh18 October 2026 04:00