The Ukrainian President thanked Lithuania for its permanent political, economic, expert and other assistance, which is very necessary for Ukraine in this difficult time.
At the meeting, Poroshenko regretted that Russia-supported separatists failed to comply with a truce, did not implement the Minsk agreements and drew attention to the risk of conflict escalation. It is known that 150 strafing incidents have occurred within the last 24 hours, which is a record number since the signing of the Minsk agreement in February.
The officials noted that it was necessary to maintain the international community's attention, the provision of assistance for Ukraine and a consistent pressure on Russia with an aim to implement the Minsk agreements.
In the meeting with Yatsenyuk, Linkevičius discussed the implementation of reforms in Ukraine and Lithuania's assistance. The Foreign Minister stressed that it was important to keep up the speed of reforms and called on Ukraine to make better use of Lithuania's expert assistance.
"We are ready to continue to share our experience. It is important that citizens living both in big cities and in other regions of the country should benefit from these reforms," stressed Linkevičius.
The Foreign Minister pointed out that the scope of Lithuania's assistance would be specified during the visit of the Prime Minister of Lithuania to Ukraine later this month.
The Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council Turchynov, who visited the military conflict zone the day before, informed participants of the meeting about the situation in Donbas, constant violations of the Minsk agreements by the separatists, the loss of lives of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. Turchynov also informed the Foreign Minister about the increased number of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine. The meeting was also attended by the Public Advisor to Turchynov, former Ambassador of Lithuania to Ukraine Petras Vaitiekūnas.
An informal tripartite meeting of foreign ministers of Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus was held in Odessa later that day. On 14 August, the Foreign Minister will hold meetings with the Governor of the Odessa region Mikheil Saakashvili, the Mayor of Odessa Genadiy Truchanov, representatives of non-governmental organizations working in the country's Donbas region.
In 2014-2015, Lithuanian governmental institutions provided assistance to help Ukraine worth almost € 2 million, including humanitarian aid worth € 532,000. Lithuania has already received more than 90 injured soldiers, volunteers and civilians for medical treatment.
