Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has announced that his country has decided to allocate at least 0.25% of its GDP for defense and security support for Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials have many times said that Lithuania is not only an ally of Ukraine but also a great friend. Since the onset of the all-out war, Vilnius has supplied Kyiv with a substantial amount of defense assistance and has used diplomacy tools to promote the Ukrainian voice in the international community.
“Today at the State Defense Council meeting, we agreed to allocate at least 0.25% of GDP for security and defense support to Ukraine,” Nausėda wrote on social media.
He emphasized that Lithuania would continue to stand firmly with Ukraine until victory, as it will always “support freedom.”
Earlier, Vilnius approved the transfer of 14 M113 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine’s military to strengthen its demining capabilities. The armored vehicles are being provided as non-reimbursable assistance through the Ukrainian Demining Coalition, co-led by Lithuania and Iceland.
Lithuania sends Ukraine 14 M113 armored vehicles to “strengthen the demining capabilities”
Also, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, in an interview with Bloomberg, said that Vilnius is ready to send its military contingent to aid Ukraine to help with troop training.
Šimonytė emphasized that Lithuania has been assisting with training Ukrainian soldiers even before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and there is long-standing cooperation between the Lithuanian and Ukrainian armed forces.
Read more:
- Lithuania donates Ukraine M577 command post carriers
- Ukraine launches first-of-its-kind Unmanned Systems Forces to supply more drones to military
- Lithuania to transfer six AMBER-1800 radar systems to Ukraine as part of German-led initiative
- Lithuania sends Ukraine recon drones, ammunition, generators