Lithuania could send military instructors to Ukraine to train local forces but has not yet considered an initiative to deploy peacekeepers in the country, the senior presidential adviser has said.
“We could actually help Ukraine with instructors, with no doubt. For the time being, we are not talking about sending any military contingents to Ukraine,” Asta Skaisgirytė told the Žinių Radijas radio on Tuesday.
She made the remarks after the UK prime minister said he was ready to send troops to Ukraine as part of efforts to maintain a possible peace in the country if agreed with invading Russia.
However, other major European countries, most notably Germany, have doubts about a peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine.
According to Skaisgirytė, solutions should be found to ensure the security of troops before Europe sends peacekeepers.
“EU countries could send peacekeepers to Ukraine, but the problem is the safety and lives of those peacekeepers. We certainly don’t want to lose our troops, so we should think of ways to protect them,” the presidential adviser stressed.
According to her, the issue of EU peacekeepers in Ukraine is still under discussion. She doubts, however, that it would be possible to deploy UN peacekeepers, the so-called Blue Helmets, in Ukraine.
“For this to be done, both sides [of the conflict] must agree. The possibility of such an agreement exists in theory, but I doubt whether it would be viable in practice,” Skaisgirytė pointed out.
The US and Russian representatives are meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss the possible start of peace talks with Ukraine, but the meeting does not include Ukrainian or European representatives.
No decisions in Paris
Skaisgirytė also said that no specific decisions were expected from the emergency meeting in Paris after European leaders on Monday failed to reach a consensus on how to respond to potential shifts in the US administration’s stance on the war in Ukraine and European security.
“There are no major results from this meeting, but no one expected them,” she noted.
“It was a meeting to talk, but decisions need to be made in completely different formats, for example, through the European Council, where Lithuania, the Baltic states, and all European Union countries participate,” she added.
At the emergency talks in Paris, European leaders sought to overcome differences over how to respond to the new US administration’s policy shift on the war in Ukraine and a possibly reduced commitment to ensuring European defence. However, no decisions were made.
Faced with one of the largest challenges in recent years, European leaders fear that Trump plans peace talks with Russia that will not involve Kyiv or the EU.
There are also concerns in Europe that the US might withdraw some of its troops from the continent, shifting its focus to the Indo-Pacific region.
However, there was no joint statement or significant announcements after the Paris meeting, in which Lithuania and other Baltic and Nordic countries were represented by Denmark.
“It’s no secret that the Nordic and Baltic countries are among those saying that enough has been said, and it’s long past time to act, long past time to do more,” Skaisgirytė said.
According to the adviser, the key message from the region is that despite peace talks over Ukraine, the threat from Russia is not going away.
“We have to keep supporting Ukraine in any way we can and continue to prioritise our own security and European security,” she said.
The leaders of eight European countries met in Paris on Monday at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron, who has called an urgent meeting to discuss Ukraine.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
