Lithuania Ready to Deploy Military Instructors to Ukraine
Vilnius is ready to participate in its allies' initiatives. Lithuania agrees to send its military instructors to Ukraine if necessary, declared the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Ingrida Šimonytė, on Bloomberg TV.
According to the official, such an initiative involves “long-term training” as part of “many years of cooperation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.” At the same time, the head of the Lithuanian government did not rule out that the authorities in Vilnius would act together with other NATO countries.
Training Ukrainian soldiers in Ukraine would reduce travel costs and burdens, keeping the troops closer to the front, where they will eventually be deployed. However, ensuring the security of Western instructors in the war-torn country could incur its own costs, such as diverting some much-needed air defence resources to protect the instructors.
When French leader Emmanuel Macron first suggested in February the idea of sending personnel to Ukraine to help in non-combat areas such as cyber defence and weapons co-production, the proposal was overshadowed by the possibility of sending French troops on the ground, which in turn attracted strong rejection from the allies.
Some nations suggested at that time that sending personnel was not as urgent as other needs in Ukraine, such as ammunition and air defence.
Some NATO allies have discreetly sent advisers to help Ukrainian forces operate Western equipment, but sending more coordinated groups of personnel to help in the defence of Ukraine would be a significant step for the allies in the military alliance.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
