Lithuania is considering which war-devastated region of Ukraine it could help rebuild, Environment Minister Simonas Gentvilas said on Wednesday.
"There is talk about it, but I wouldn't like to name [the region] for now, because it hasn't been decided yet," he told BNS, adding that Lithuania "will definitely participate in the reconstruction of Ukraine".
Olena Kondratiuk, deputy speaker of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, said in Vilnius on Wednesday that some countries had already chosen Ukraine's regions they would help rebuild.
For example, the United Kingdom will lead the rebuilding of the Kyiv region, while Estonia has chosen the Zhytomyr region, and Latvia may help in Bucha.
She said Lithuania could choose Avdiivka in Eastern Ukraine.
"We sincerely welcome any help in any region [...]. Lithuania once rebuilt a a secondary school in Avdiivka," Kondratiuk said. "This school has been destroyed again and Lithuania has put a lot of effort and finances into the reconstruction. So it could possibly pick this place."
Ukraine would expect countries to send in engineers and other experts to help rebuild a region of their choice, she added.
In Lithuania, the process will be coordinated by the Environment Ministry and will also involve two agencies under the ministry: the Environmental Project Management Agency and the Construction Sector Development Agency.
Lithuania's construction industry representatives have said they can help with the reconstruction effort, but need state support and guarantees.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian parliament representative thanked Lithuania for its military and humanitarian assistance and for becoming the fifth country to declare Russia's actions in Ukraine as genocide.
"I am pleased that Ukraine has such good friends and partners like Lithuania that demonstrates absolute leadership on all political, economic and cultural issues," she said.
Kondratiuk is the first high-ranking Ukrainian politician to visit Lithuania since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in late February.
Since then, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk addressed the Lithuanian parliament remotely on March 10, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 12.
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