Speaking at a public event in central Vilnius on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Lithuania for its “very courageous” stance on Kyiv’s bid to join NATO, saying the two countries are already allies.
“Thank you for your help in our defence and for your very clear and very honest and very courageous position to invite Ukraine to NATO,” he told a crowd on Lukiškių Square.
“The Ukrainian flags in the streets of Lithuania prove unequivocally that we are already allies and that Ukraine will defend its freedom and yours,” he added.
“No one, including Lithuanians, will ever have to fight against Russian troops, not at the Vilnius TV tower, or in any other Lithuanian city, or any other European capital. Lithuania will always belong to you,” said the president of Ukraine.
“And this flag of ours means that there will never again be deportations from the Baltic states to Siberia, never again the partition of Poland, never again the humiliation of Hungary, never again tanks in Prague, never again the Winter War in Finland, never again the occupation of Europe,” said Zelensky.
Here in Vilnius 🇱🇹, we see the progress of Europe. People here know what security is and how to achieve it. And they know that security means being together with Ukraine 🇺🇦.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 11, 2023
I am grateful to you, Vilnius, and to all Lithuanian cities and communities for every call in support of…
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‘It is the duty of every normal person to be here”
On Tuesday evening, the flag brought back from the battlefield in Ukraine by the runners was raised in the presence of the presidents of Lithuania and Ukraine at Lukiškių Square.
More than 2,000 people came to the event, eager to greet President Zelensky and his wife.
“I actually came to support Ukraine’s accession to NATO, and I also saw that there will be some pretty special guests, President Zelensky will be coming, and I want to see it live,” Lavija Žibutytė, a 24-year-old student, told BNS.
Librarian Virginija Pleskienė, 66, brought a ribbon made from the Ukrainian flag to the event.
“I got it on the third day of the war at the Russian embassy. It’s now practically 500 days that I’ve been wearing that ribbon, so the question of why I’m here seems ridiculous to me. It seems to me that it is the duty of every normal person to be here,” she said.
Ukrainian and Lithuanian athletes, soldiers and celebrities ran together for two weeks to bring the flag from the frontline in Bakhmut to Vilnius. The campaign is in support for Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO.
