You won’t see this every day: Kaunas City Municipality is surrounded by fences and sandbags

The Lithuanian army is conducting exercises “Thunder 2024”. During them, the rapid response forces of the Lithuanian army are activated for several days. As a result, the Kaunas city municipality building will be fenced off with special measures.

An unusual sight

For several days, Kaunas residents will be able to observe an unusual sight – the municipal building will be surrounded by military personnel, sandbags will be placed here, and other measures will be lined up to protect the building. This is how soldiers learn to protect important objects in the event of a military conflict.

The attention of passers-by is drawn to the fact that special measures are already being placed at the building, fences are being put up, and trenches are being made of sandbags. Due to the exercises, L. Sapiegos Street, which residents could use to reach the municipality, was blocked.

Photo of regiment Zakshensk.

Exercise task

The Lithuanian army announced that during the exercise, rapid reaction forces are being trained, which are used to neutralize hybrid threats after the establishment of a military territory during a state of emergency. In the context of this part of the exercise, military commanders are used, who are assigned the duties of coordinators.

The task of the coordinators in the city of Kaunas is to establish contact with the municipalities, institutions operating in the territory and the commander of the military operation and to ensure a smooth exchange of information between civilians and soldiers and to contribute to the smooth and quick execution of the operation.

Plenty of participants

During the exercises, the army and state institutions practice the transition from peace to war, going through all stages and consistently performing the necessary actions and procedures. More than 8,000 people participate in these exercises. Lithuanian army soldiers, as well as Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union and local government representatives, commandants appointed to municipalities are trained, commandant units are formed and their functions are carried out.

Photo of regiment Zakshensk.

The Strategic Command, the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, which includes representatives of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, VSAT, VST and VAT, as well as tactical command centers – Division and brigade management elements, will train in the training. For the first time, about 2.5 thousand people were called for training at the same time. active army personnel reserve soldiers, another 2,000 will be called for data verification. In addition to the mobilization, there will be a series of actions in which more than 4 thousand people will actually participate. Representatives of the soldiers of the Lithuanian army, as well as the riflemen’s union and self-government.

Photo of regiment Zakshensk.