With proper air defence protection, Western military instructors could go to Ukraine to train Ukrainian troops, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė told a joint press conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Vilnius on Friday.
Šimonytė pointed out that Lithuanian military instructors are now training Ukrainian soldiers in Lithuania and other countries.
“Could they be trained in Ukraine? With proper air defence, it is certainly possible to manage these risks,” the prime minister said, adding that specialists could be sent to Ukraine to help Kyiv with cyber security, demining, and border protection.
According to Šimonytė, French President Emmanuel Macron’s remarks about possibly sending troops to Ukraine had been interpreted by some as a proposal for Western troops to take part in combat operations.
“There are different forms of assistance or ways of getting involved. I think what President Macron said, and what is key, is that we should not draw red lines for ourselves when on the other side we have a person who has no red lines and who has a nuclear threat and waves it every other day,” she said.
Speaking about Western support for Ukraine, Macron said in late February that he would not rule out the possibility of sending allied troops to Ukraine in the future. Some Western partners later rejected such statements.
Meanwhile, Lithuanian officials said they were considering sending troops to Ukraine for training missions, but support in the form of arms and ammunition remains the main priority for now.
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