Some 5,000 combat drones, purchased from Lithuanian manufacturers and intended as military aid to Ukraine, are held up in warehouses, even though they were supposed to reach the battlefield by the end of last year.
RSI Europe, a Lithuanian drone maker, says it handed over equipment – drones intended for the Ukrainian military – several months ago to government representatives.
“We have delivered the drones, some in October, some in November, and we have no knowledge that the drones have reached Ukraine yet,” says Tomas Milašauskas, head of RSI Europe.
Nor, according to the company, has it received any enquiries about training Ukrainians how to use its drones.
Several other companies have also confirmed that they have no information that their drones have been shipped to Ukraine.
Indeed, their equipment intended to help the Ukrainian war effort remains in warehouses in Lithuania.
Former defence minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas says they are held up by red tape. According to him, there are six steps to get the goods to their final destination.
“The bureaucracy is such that there are warehouses, the Defence Resources Agency has to formally hand it over to the military, the government has to take a decision to hand it over to Ukraine, and then it has to be shipped to Ukraine. This means that you have to move through each step as quickly as possible,” Kasčiūnas told LRT TV.
According to the former minister, the procedures are sensible, but if the equipment is held up in any of the steps, the process stops.
Drone manufacturers say it is essential to get the equipment to Ukraine as soon as possible.
“The damage is obvious – there is a shortage of drones in Ukraine, a deficit of millions of euros, and if the drones are not in the hands of the troops, then they are losing out, Ukraine is suffering greater losses than it should,” insists Milašauskas.
MP Giedrimas Jeglinskas, who chairs the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence, says the procedures should be reviewed.
“When it comes to drones, which are state-of-the-art, purchased in accordance with the latest standards and testing algorithms, the point is to get them to the hands of the users – the Ukrainian military – as soon as possible,” he insisted.
The Defence Ministry says that the drones, which were purchased from Lithuanian manufacturers, will be shipped to Ukraine in the near future. The government recently adopted a decision that will speed up the procedures of delivering military aid to Ukraine.
Last August, five Lithuanian drone manufacturers successfully completed trials in Ukraine. Nearly 5,000 drones, worth 5 million euros, were purchased by the Lithuanian government for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
More than 2,300 combat drones were also purchased for the Lithuanian Armed Forces, worth 3 million euros.
The Defence Ministry previously said that all drones would be delivered to Ukraine by the end of 2024.
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