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Lithuanian authorities say they have charged 13 people with two attempted murders in Vilnius linked to Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, while Ukraine said the same group constituted a “Russian intelligence network” that tried to murder Ukrainian journalists and an intelligence official. Lithuania alleges those who sought the killings were acting in the interests of the GRU, said Saulius Briginas, the Lithuanian police chief.
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The suspects, some of whom were arrested in Lithuania in March, were charged with seeking to kill one Lithuanian – an activist and fundraiser for Ukraine – and one Russian national, a dissident and activist for the rights of the Bashkir minority of Russia. The same suspects were also believed by police to be behind an arson attack on Ukraine-bound military equipment in Bulgaria and espionage against the Greek military, he added. “We are witnessing hybrid-style crimes against European Union countries, their national security, and persons who act in support of Ukraine,” said Briginas, the police chief.
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Russia’s defence ministry, which is in charge of military intelligence, did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by the Reuters news agency. Moscow has always denied allegations it is involved in such operations or in a wider sabotage campaign involving arson attacks aimed at destabilising Ukraine’s allies. But there have been several successful prosecutions in target countries including the UK and admissions by participants that they were acting for Russian paymasters. Lithuania has previously said the GRU was behind parcel blasts in Europe and attempted arson at an Ikea store and at a plant that supplies radio scanners to Ukraine’s army.
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The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andriy Sybiga, said he had summoned Israel’s ambassador in protest over a shipment to an Israeli port allegedly containing stolen grain farmed on Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. Ukraine says it previously informed Israel in April that a Russian shipment received at Haifa contained grain from Ukrainian territory. Sybiga said: “It is difficult to understand Israel’s lack of appropriate response … Now that another such vessel has arrived in Haifa, we once again warn Israel against accepting the stolen grain and harming our relations.”
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The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Saar, hit back at Sybiga over the public announcement but added “the matter will be examined … Israel is a state that abides by the rule of law.” The EU found in 2024 there was evidence Russia was “illegally appropriating large volumes of [cereals and grains] in territories of Ukraine, which it illegally occupies, and routing them to its export markets as allegedly Russian products”.
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A Russian drone attack before dawn on Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa wounded 14 people, including two children, authorities said on Monday, in a barrage of civilian areas. A Ukrainian drone strike killed two people in the Russia-occupied part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, the Moscow-installed governor, Vladimir Saldo, said on Monday. A man and a woman in their 70s died in the village of Dnipriany, he said.
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In Odesa, drones hit residential neighbourhoods and civilian infrastructure, said Serhii Lysak, the head of the city’s administration. Five of the wounded, most of them with shrapnel wounds, were hospitalised, according to Oleh Kiper, the head of the regional military administration. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said on Monday that Russia has fired approximately 1,900 attack drones, nearly 1,400 powerful guided aerial bombs and about 60 missiles of various types at Ukraine over the past week.
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In Poland, Donald Tusk, the prime minister, said his government planned to build a “drone armada” with Ukraine’s help, to defend both itself and the rest of Europe. Zelenskyy also announced that Ukraine is massively scaling up the production of ground robots that can deliver supplies, evacuate injured soldiers and fire automatic weapons. Kyiv has ordered 25,000 ground robots for this year – twice as many as in 2025, and the number is set to grow, said Zelenskyy.
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Zelenskyy noted a recent raft of good news for Ukraine: Nato partners, excluding the US, had contributed to a financial arrangement to buy American weapons; the EU approved a €90bn (US$106bn) loan to Ukraine; and the EU intended to place more sanctions on Moscow. Meanwhile, Ukraine continued assailing oil terminals and refineries deep inside Russia with long-range drones and missiles, aiming to disrupt Moscow’s economy. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based thinktank, said it had seen geolocated evidence that Ukrainian forces conducted at least 10 strikes against Russian oil and gas infrastructure in the past two weeks.