Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonite said she was ready to send her soldiers to Ukraine for a training mission. She said this in an interview with the Financial Times, UNN reports.
Details
Ingrida Šimonite told the FT that "she has parliamentary authorization to send troops to Ukraine for training purposes - which her government has said before - but Kyiv has not yet asked for it.
Šimonite acknowledged that Russia would see this as a provocation, but added: "If we were just thinking about Russia's response, we wouldn't be able to send anything. Every other week you hear that someone is going to be nuked.
This week, Russia conducted tactical nuclear weapons exercises in response to Macron's comments. Shimonite doubted that these weapons would be used, as radioactive fallout would hit Russia as well. "Most of the time, the winds are blowing from west to east," she said dryly.
According to Šimonite, Russia is stepping up attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, such as power plants, schools and hospitals. "Russia is trying to provoke a new wave of people who will flee Ukraine because there are no basic communications and basic services," the Lithuanian Prime Minister said.
The EU is hosting more than 4.2 million refugees from Ukraine. But two years after the war began, people in some European countries are criticizing support for Ukrainians.
Šimonite downplayed reports that Lithuania is helping to return men of fighting age to Ukraine. "We will not organize deportations or search for Ukrainian men in the country, as it would be illegal," Šimonite said, adding that the EU has guaranteed them protection until March 2025.
However, those whom Kyiv proves to have evaded military service could be denied permanent residence, Šimonite said. She "wanted to help Ukraine to have the potential to renew its armed forces and to give rest to people who have been fighting for a long time.
Previously
French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that European soldiers could be sent to Ukraine, although other countries, as the newspaper points out, "were wary of provoking a direct confrontation with Russia.