At the meeting, Gitanas Nausėda stressed Lithuania’s readiness to continue to support Ukraine by all means—military, economic and political. The President stressed that in 2024, it will be necessary to speak even more loudly and more widely about Ukraine in the international arena. According to the Head of State, we cannot allow war fatigue to set in and the intensity of international support to decrease.
“We believe that Ukraine will win this war and we will support you until victory. There has never been and will never be any other option for us. We are actively mobilizing our allies to provide all necessary support to Ukraine, especially in military terms. We strongly support Ukraine’s EU and NATO membership aspirations and are ready to help Ukraine on its path to transatlantic integration,” the Lithuanian leader pointed out.
The President stressed that Lithuania does not support calls for peace between Russia and Ukraine under any conditions. According to the Head of State, this would be a victory for the Kremlin and an impetus to launch military aggression against other countries in the future. Gitanas Nausėda underlined that peace talks should be conducted on the terms of Ukraine which is defending itself and not on the terms of the aggressor and expressed his support for the Peace Formula proposed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Lithuanian and Ukrainian leaders also discussed the need to continue the policy of sanctions and to seek to isolate the aggressor in the international community.
During the meeting, considerable attention was paid to cooperation between the defense industries of the two countries and joint production projects. “Lithuania is ready to step up its military assistance to Ukraine,” Gitanas Nausėda added. The Lithuanian leader urged companies to produce even more products that can be exported to Ukraine, especially in the field of air defense, and more rapidly.
President Gitanas Nausėda also reiterated Lithuania’s support for the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine, focusing on schools, kindergartens, and energy infrastructure.
After the bilateral meeting, the Presidents of Lithuania and Ukraine signed a joint statement “Kartu iki pergalės! Разом до перемоги! Together until the victory!” which underlined the strategic bonds between Lithuania and Ukraine, the intrinsic shared values, and the unwavering commitment to the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders of 1991. The full text of the document is available here.
