If Ukraine requested the deployment of troops from some Western countries, including Lithuania, Vilnius would discuss the issue with allies, Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has said.
“We’d talk with our allies and partners about what it looks like, and we’d talk with Ukraine about what it looks like,” Budrys told LRT TV.
“Let me remind you that after the Paris summit, when President (Emmanuel) Macron invited Lithuania’s president, among others, to discuss the initiative to expand military involvement in Ukraine in various forms, Lithuania didn’t rule out that possibility,” he said.
Budrys noted that Lithuania has been a security provider in the region, contributing not only diplomatically but also through other means.
“In the same way, we need to talk now about what this would look like, based on a very clear and concrete position, which is also being sent to the incoming US administration, that Lithuania is a security provider in the region, not just a recipient,” the foreign minister said.
“We’re actively contributing not only diplomatically but also through other means to security. If the question comes up, I have no doubt that the Lithuanian flag will be there,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he spoke with Macron on Monday and discussed the idea of deploying Western military contingents to Ukraine and the training of Ukrainian troops.
The French president has previously mentioned that he does not rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine if Russian forces break through Ukraine’s front lines and Kyiv makes such a request.
During his visit to Warsaw last month, Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk discussed the possibility of stationing peacekeepers in Ukraine if a deal is reached to end Russia’s almost three-year-long full-scale invasion.
