On October 7 Vice Minister of National Defence Vytautas Umbrasasmet with a delegation of Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine, led by Deputy Chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Administration Volodymyr Yurchenko, on a formal visit in Lithuania. Ukrainian defence reform, military cooperation of Lithuania and Ukraine, and further medical rehabilitation for injured Ukrainian soldiers and their families in Lithuania, a programme launched in 2014, were discussed at the meeting.
Vice Minister of National Defence reiterated that Lithuania will continue rendering assistance to the reform and strengthening of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and will continue supporting Ukraine’s aspiration to become a full-fledged member of NATO and the European Union.
“It is important to make sure that the track of Ukraine’s reforms is irreversible, brings maximal gain to the citizens and the state, and allows securing Ukraine’s independence and further development of democracy,” Vice Minister V. Umbrasas underscored at the meeting.
The delegation also visited the Military Rehabilitation Centre of MD Jonas Basanavičius Military Medical Service of the Lithuanian Armed Forces in Druskininkai and met with Ukrainian soldiers undergoing rehabilitation treatment there.
Over 260 Ukrainian soldiers have already undergone medical treatment and rehabilitation in Lithuania since 2014. They are also treated at Santaros Klinikos Hospital and Republican Vilnius University Hospital in Vilnius, and Palanga Rehabilitation Centre and Hospital. K the Ministry of National Defence allots up to 58 thousand euros annually for the medical rehabilitation programme for Ukrainian military.
Lithuania has been providing all possible assistance, including military, and political support to Ukraine since the beginning of Russian aggression in2014. On our own and together with our allies, Lithuania assists Ukraine in its reform in the area of military training and education and helps applying western standards in the Armed Forces of Ukraine as it is seeking to improve interoperability with NATO. Lithuanian military instructors are training and strengthening the Ukrainian military as part of the U.S.-led Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine and the Lithuanian Training Operation in Ukraine. Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine are also developing a joint military project, the trilateral brigade LITPOLUKRBRIG, in order to help Ukraine’s forces learn Western standards and have an opportunity to study and work according to NATO procedures. Ukrainian troops are invited to study at military education institutions in Lithuania, Lithuania funds studies of Ukrainian officers at the Baltic Defence College.
A Lithuanian representative works to the Strategic Advisory Group Ukraine and two Lithuanian officers are assigned to the NATO Representations in Kyiv, one for advising on NCO system reform and the other – for professional military training-related advice.
The society of Lithuania supports military assistance to Ukraine – 64% of respondents of a public opinion poll carried out by request of the Ministry of National Defence in the end of last year were in favour of Lithuania’s military assistance to Ukraine.
Photo credits: Giedrė Maksimovicz (MoD)
