On October 1 and 2 Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis and a delegation attended celebration of the 5th anniversary of establishing the headquarters of the Great Hetman Konstantinas Ostrogiškis Brigade LITPOLUKRBRIG in Lublin, Poland.
“The joint Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian brigade exemplifies the success of our trilateral cooperation. The Brigade HQ which is deployed and constantly performing its functions in Lublin, Poland, is the engine of this successful project. Plenty has been achieved over the five years, and Lithuania is interested in further increasing the role of this brigade,” Minister of National Defence R. Karoblis said.
Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis also discussed prospects of bilateral cooperation, security situation in Eastern Ukraine and dynamics in the whole region with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Taran who was also in attendance at the commemoration. The Lithuanian side asserted that the assistance to the Ukrainian defence reform would be continued, as well as the support to Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration aspirations.
The joint trilateral Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian military unit, the Great Hetman Konstantinas Ostrogiškis Brigade LITPOLUKRBRIG, was established in Warsaw on 19 September 2014 to serve three key goals: 1. to strengthen the strategic partnership among Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine and increase and fortify mutual trust; 2. to assist Ukraine in integrating and completing reforms in line with Western standards, to apply NATO standards and procedures, to work together and form a common work ethos of Lithuanian, Polish and Ukrainian militaries; 3. to strengthen military cooperation, to develop and achieve readiness of joint capabilities able to deploy to multinational operations.
The Brigade HQ is established in Lublin. Its top command – the commander, deputy commander, and chief of staff – rotate among the three framework nations. The Brigade Staff comprises 5 Lithuanian, 18 Ukrainian, and 58 Polish officers, and 13 civilians. Decisions concerning Brigade development are made by its Supervising Authority, the Coordination Group, formed by representatives of the countries’ defence institutions that convenes 3–4 times a year.
Photo credits: Lithuanian MoD delegation
