Russia and Ukraine exchanged heavy volleys of attack drones overnight, with Ukraine’s Air Force saying it downed 112 of 128 incoming Russian drones, while officials in Moscow grounded planes at several major airports amid attacks from Ukrainian UAVs. Elsewhere, Russian officials said a Ukrainian strike injured 12 people in Russia’s Kursk region.

This comes as Germany announced it has stationed a heavy combat unit of 4,800 soldiers in Lithuania — the first permanent deployment of German troops abroad since the Second World War. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said during a ceremony in Vilnius on Thursday the troops would help protect NATO’s eastern flank.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz: “We know that security doesn’t begin at our borders. It begins where our allies and partners have to defend it. That’s why Lithuania’s security is also our security.”

Lithuania is a former Soviet Republic that borders Russia’s Kaliningrad, as well as Russian ally Belarus. It joined NATO in 2004.