President Gitanas Nausėda and Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė believe that, in principle, Lithuania should help Ukraine to recover mobilized men living abroad.
In order for Kyiv to attract more soldiers, the country’s parliament changed the mobilization law, which lowered the age of conscription to 25 and tightened the penalties for those who avoid military service.
Ukraine also decided not to issue new passports to its male citizens of conscription age living abroad and suspended consular services for men aged 18-60.
“Ukraine must have its own mobilization plans,” G. Nausėda said in the LRT radio debate on Monday. “Ukraine must have opportunities and instruments to invite its young men to fulfill their duty to the motherland.”
“We must cooperate with Ukraine in every sense,” the president added.
At that time, the Prime Minister, who was aspiring to the post of the country’s head, claimed that Lithuania could take certain ways to help Ukraine, but some of the measures need to be consulted at the level of the European Union (EU).
“Perhaps we could look for some ways, when considering the extension of a temporary residence permit, to make sure that a person has fulfilled his mobilization obligation or is exempted from it.” But here we have to cooperate not only with the Ukrainian institutions, but also more broadly, because at the moment, the so-called temporary protection applies to the people of Ukraine in the EU”, said I. Šimonytė.
“That temporary protection is quite universal, within the framework of that protection, the guarantees that are given to Ukrainian citizens in the EU are very broad, it is clear that this is not a matter of one or two states,” she added.
Last week, Polish Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said that Warsaw could help Ukraine by repatriating men of conscription age.
Responding to this, Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas said that Lithuania promises to follow Poland’s example regarding Ukrainians living abroad who are being mobilized.
Later, however, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski argued that Warsaw’s help in handing over men of conscription age to Ukraine was an ethically dubious move, adding that Kyiv must take the initiative on the matter itself.
