Trucks carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles rumbled over forest roads, atomic-powered submarines set sail from Arctic and Pacific ports, and crews scrambled into warplanes as Russia and neighboring Belarus held the final stage of their joint nuclear drills Thursday.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko inspected Russian short-range nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles at a military unit involved in the drills, declaring: "I dreamed about this machine a long time ago."

Ukrainian drones smashed into another Russian refinery overnight, starting a fire that produced huge clouds of black smoke, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, in what appeared to be the latest long-range attack on Moscow's vital oil industry.

The drones targeted the Syzran oil refinery, located more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) inside Russia, Zelensky said on social media, where he posted a video of the aftermath.

Over the past months, Ukrainian drones have crashed into the chimney of a power plant in Estonia, hit empty fuel tanks in Latvia and been shot down by Romanian fighter jets stationed in Lithuania.

For the first time in a NATO and European Union capital, Lithuanians were pictured sheltering in underground car parks in Vilnius on Wednesday, as authorities warned of unidentified drone activity in neighboring Belarus.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed a new effort to reach a deal with Iran in a difficult call on Tuesday, three sources told U.S. news portal Axios, with one source saying Netanyahu's "hair was on fire" after the call.

A final agreement between the U.S. and Iran may be announced within hours, unnamed sources told Al-Arabiya television on Wednesday.

Polish officials on Wednesday welcomed U.S. statements clarifying that the decision not to deploy 4,000 U.S. troops to the central European country was a temporary measure.

The Polish government last week reacted with disbelief at news that 4,000 troops from the Army's 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division were no longer en route as planned to the country that borders Ukraine.

The European Union approved Wednesday a tariff deal with the United States to cap tariffs on most EU exports at 15%, avoiding a direct clash with President Donald Trump ahead of his July 4 deadline.

Fierce debates raged among the 27-nation bloc's lawmakers and leaders, jeopardizing the hard-won bargain governing the massive exchange of goods and services across the Atlantic Ocean between two of the world's largest economies, now weathering dangerous fallout from the war in Iran.

Residents of Vilnius were told to take shelter and Lithuania's president and prime minister were taken to safe locations Wednesday because of an alarm over drone activity near the border with Belarus, underlining jitters on NATO's eastern flank over incursions related to Russia's war with Ukraine.

An emergency announcement from the military told people in the Vilnius region to "immediately head to a shelter or a safe place."

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his close ties with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and said their countries are partners in trade and international affairs as they opened bilateral talks Wednesday on his trip to Beijing.

Xi welcomed Putin with a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People only days after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. The quick succession of Trump's and Putin's visits highlighted Beijing's growing role as an international superpower, experts say.

U.S. President Donald Trump convened a meeting on Iran with his top national security team on Monday evening that included a briefing on military options, two U.S. officials told U.S. news outlet Axios on Tuesday.

The meeting took place several hours after Trump announced he was suspending attacks he claimed were planned for Tuesday.