Lithuania’s Chief of Defence Valdemaras Rupšys reported that Lithuanian military instructors in Ukraine were redeployed from Kyiv to the western city of Lviv amid fears of a Russian invasion. He assured reporters on February 21 that there are no instructors in the Kyiv area now; only troops guarding the Lithuanian diplomatic mission. “Training activity in the Kyiv area was suspended last Friday, and all instructors are now concentrated in the Lviv region.”
About 40 Lithuanian military instructors are currently involved in the training mission in Ukraine. The decision to relocate them was taken because of the security situation, Rupšys said. According to him, the claim by Moscow that Russian forces have killed five Ukrainian “saboteurs” was an attempt to falsify a pretext for an invasion. “It is probably clear to everybody – to us, to the global community, and I think to some Russians – that this is simply a search for a pretext and an artificially created situation. I’m sure that there is no involvement of Ukrainians there,” he added.
According to Lithuanian Deputy Defence Minister Žilvinas Tomkus, information coming from Russia “must be taken critically”, adding that “we are going to have a large flow of disinformation in such circumstances”. The Russian military said earlier on Monday that it had killed five “saboteurs”, who crossed into Russia from Ukraine, and destroyed two combat vehicles allegedly belonging to the Ukrainian armed forces.
There will be intensive movements of military vehicles on Lithuania’s roads in late February and early March, the country’s armed forces warned on Monday. Lithuania will see a larger presence of military equipment on its roads between February 21 and March 8 during NATO’s Saber Strike exercise in the Baltic countries and Poland. Lithuania is hosting some components of the drills: the Strong Griffon exercise and the Hunter exercise of anti-tank units.
Moreover, reinforcements bound for NATO’s forward presence battlegroup in Estonia will transit Lithuania on their way to the northernmost Baltic country.
“On these days, there will be a redeployment of NATO allies and the 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the US Army, during which troops from various NATO countries will redeploy from Germany to the Baltic states and Poland along with combat equipment, as well as movements of military vehicles within the country,” the Armed Forces announced. The largest movement of military vehicles is planned via Kalvarija on the border with Poland, from which troops will travel across Lithuania to the border with Latvia. Those involved in drills within the country will head to the military training areas in Rukla and Pabradė.
Motorists are advised to choose a different date for crossing the Lithuanian-Polish border, or at least to avoid travelling at night and early in the morning, when the most intense movement of military equipment takes place. In order to cause as little inconvenience as possible for civilians, large convoys will be broken into smaller groups of up to 30 vehicles, each accompanied by military police, according to military. Motorists are requested not to overtake these groups. LRT.lt
