European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius on Monday proposed deploying a Ukrainian battalion in Lithuania alongside the permanently stationed German brigade and rotating US forces, calling it an additional and timely security guarantee for the region.
Speaking at the Defending Baltics 2025 international conference in Vilnius, Kubilius said Ukraine’s battle-hardened military could play a key role in strengthening collective defence in NATO’s northeastern flank once peace is established.
“It will be good that the battle-tested Ukrainian army, after peace has been established in Ukraine, would be ready to be present in all the countries of our frontier region, starting from the Baltic region, and in Lithuania, next to the German brigade and rotating US battalions,” he said.
Kubilius warned that Russia’s military today is stronger than it was in February 2022, when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“The Ukrainians themselves say that [Russia’s] capabilities in using drones are the same as Ukraine’s, and sometimes even stronger,” he said. “We would be facing a Russian army that is capable of controlling four to five million drones per year. No army on the European Union side has such experience.”
Because of this, he argued, EU countries must learn from Ukraine’s frontline experience.
“Ukraine is on the European continent and has an army tested on the battlefronts – 800,000 military forces and the ability to control millions of drones. And it also has an industry that is very well prepared for war,” Kubilius said, urging European governments to act quickly.
He stressed that his proposal does not diminish the importance of existing German and US military commitments for Lithuania’s defences.
Germany plans to deploy a 4,000–5,000-strong brigade to Lithuania by the end of 2027. Most of the troops will be based at the Rūdninkai training area in the Šalčininkai District, while engineering and reconnaissance units will be stationed in Rukla, Jonava District.
US forces are currently deployed in Lithuania on a rotational basis, with units rotating roughly every nine months. A new rotation began in October, and Lithuanian officials are in talks with Washington about extending the arrangement.
Kubilius said the addition of a Ukrainian battalion would complement these deployments and strengthen deterrence on NATO’s eastern flank.
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