Lithuania foiled attempt by saboteurs to burn aid shipment for Ukraine in 2024

A sabotage group attempted to set fire to a shipment of military aid heading to Ukraine but was successfully stopped.

As reported byLithuanian public broadcaster LRT, the incident occurred last year in the northern Lithuanian city of Šiauliai.

Three individuals were detained, while the remaining suspects have been put on the international wanted list, Lithuanian Police Commissioner General Arūnas Paulauskassaid during an annual presentation of police activities on Thursday, 28 February.

"And one more incident that I would like to mention is another hybrid attack against Lithuania, which is an attempt to burn down support to Ukraine in Šiauliai, which included some military equipment, some radar stations for Ukraine," he said.

"We understand that a group of persons received an order to set it on fire. Again, it was only thanks to the excellent cooperation with the intelligence community that those persons were identified, those acts were prevented and today three persons, as far as I know, are arrested, plus a number of persons are now wanted internationally," Paulauskas said.

The Baltic News Service, a news website covering the Baltic states, has submitted a request to the Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office to confirm this information, but no response has been received yet.

In November, the Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office reported the detention of two Spanish citizens in connection with suspicions of preparing a "terrorist attack" in Šiauliai. Lithuanian TV channel LNK News later reported that the two individuals may have been hired by Russian intelligence.

At the time, Lithuanian Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė told reporters that Lithuanian law enforcement agencies were conducting several pre-trial investigations into suspected sabotage operations but refrained from providing further details.