The Lithuanian Defense Ministry also reported that Vilnius will continue to participate in the training of the Ukrainian military
VILNIUS, August 11. /tass/. Vilnius is ready to transfer the weapons in the arsenal of the Lithuanian army to Kiev, but hopes that in this case the allies of the Baltic Republic will be ready to supply it with new military equipment. This was announced by Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Defense of Lithuania Margiris Abukevicius at the Copenhagen - Ukraine - 2022 donor conference in Copenhagen on Thursday, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry reported.
"Lithuania is considering the possibility of supporting Ukraine with the transfer of weapons. The process can speed up the allies' agreement to supply Lithuania with new military equipment instead," his words are quoted in the message.
Vilnius, as noted by Abukevicius, will continue to participate in the training of the Ukrainian military. "In the second half of August, Lithuania will organize five additional courses for military specialists. About 150 people will be trained within six months," he said.
Lithuania was the first of the NATO countries in 2014 to officially admit that it had supplied elements of weapons to Ukraine, without specifying what was meant. After a while, the Ukrainian side reported that it was a Soviet-made lethal weapon. In February 2019, Vilnius handed over to Kiev the ammunition removed from service - more than 1 million cartridges for Soviet-made submachine guns. In October 2021, the Lithuanian Cabinet of Ministers approved the supply of bulletproof vests and ballistic (unloading) belts to Ukraine worth €676 thousand.
In February of this year, Ukraine received a batch of portable Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems from Lithuania. In April, the Ministry of Defense of the Republic announced that it was transferring to Ukraine a batch of heavy mortars, the cost of which is tens of millions of euros. In July, Vilnius announced the transfer of M-113 and M-577 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine.