NATO beefs up rapid-reaction forces on the border as Russia blasts Ukrainian shopping mall and launches cyberattacks on Lithuania

(Originally published June 28 in “What in the World“) Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies, meeting in the Bavarian Alps, labeled Russia’s missile attack on a mall filled with hundreds of shoppers in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk a war crime. At least 16 people were killed in the attack. The United States is now planning to augment the various missile systems it has sent Ukraine with several Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile Systems, the same missile defense systems used to defend the White House, to help stave off complete Russian victory in eastern Donbas.

Lithuania says Russia has meanwhile launched a wave of cyberattacks against its government and state facilities in retaliation for what it says is a Lithuanian blockade of Russian cargo shipments to its Kaliningrad Baltic enclave. Lithuania says it has imposed no such blockade and has restricted only 1% of Russian shipments in accordance with Western sanctions.

While western analysts say Russia’s military is too overstretched in Ukraine to launch at attack in the Baltics, similarly false allegations and cyberattacks preceded its February invasion of Ukraine. NATO announced on the eve of a summit in Madrid that it will multiply the number of troops on high alert in the Baltics and other nations along the Russian border to 300,000, up from 40,000, and shift more weapons east.