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Balloons and bombs: two security signals in December
Summary
A look back at two security developments reported in the days before 15 December 2025, one on Ukraine's northern border and one in Lithuania.
What did the security picture around Ukraine look like on 15 December 2025? Two reports from the preceding days show pressure on different fronts.
On 11 December 2025, a Russian guided bomb struck a shop in Velyka Pysarivka, in Sumy Oblast. Two people were killed and two others injured. The strike was reported as part of the 2025 Sumy offensive and of Russian attacks on civilians in the war.
Two days earlier, on 9 December 2025, Lithuania declared a state of national emergency. The stated reason was security risks from Belarusian weather balloons that had violated Lithuanian airspace. The episode was listed among violations of non-combatant airspace during the Russo-Ukrainian war and in the context of Belarus–Lithuania relations.
The two events differ greatly in scale and kind. One was a lethal strike on a civilian site inside Ukraine. The other was an emergency declared by a neighbouring state over balloon incursions. Both, as reported, were tied to the wider war and its effects on the region.
