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 Lithuania |  Ukraine |
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Lithuania–Ukraine relations are foreign relations betweenLithuania andUkraine. Both countries are members of theLublin Triangle,OSCE,Council of Europe,World Trade Organization andUnited Nations. Lithuania supports Ukraine'sEuropean Union andNATO membership. Lithuania has an embassy inKyiv and Ukraine has an embassy inVilnius.
Ever since the rule ofGediminas in the 1300s much of present-day Ukraine was part of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania. After theBattle of Blue Waters in 1362, Lithuania took over thePrincipality of Kiev. Between 1569 and 1795Poland and Lithuania formed thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth which incorporated much of what is now Ukraine.[1] Following thepartitions of Commonwealth, the bulk of Lithuania and present-day Ukraine fell to theRussian Empire. Both countries formed part of theUSSR (Ukraine since 1922,Lithuania since 1944) until 1991.
A number of agreements were signed in November 2009 including the mutual recognition of university qualifications and cooperation in preserving cultural heritage; furthermore, Lithuania promised assistance to Ukraine in its aspirations tobecome a member of the European Union.[2][3]
In 2014, the Lithuanian presidentDalia Grybauskaitė voiced her support for Ukraine in the wake of theRusso-Ukrainian War.[4] In January 2015, Lithuania requested aUnited Nations Security Council meeting due tothe ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine.[5] Later on,Vytautas Landsbergis declared that he believes theMinsk agreement to be "worse thanMunich".[6]
In 2021, the Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy noted the importance of Lithuania's support for Ukraine'sEuropean Union andNATO aspirations, while the Lithuanian PresidentGitanas Nausėda noted that Lithuania supports Ukraine's progress and welcomes reforms in Ukraine.[7]
Following the start of the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lithuania has strongly condemned the invasion and called for military, economic and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.[8] In theprelude of invasion, on 13 February 2022, Lithuania sentFIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems and ammunition to Ukraine.[9] Military aid further continued and, according to the LithuanianMinister of National Defence, as of 21 November 2022, the total aid to Ukraine amounted to €660 million, of which the military aid was €240 million.[10]
In April 2024, the Lithuanian government considered repatriating Ukrainian men of military age living in Lithuania to Ukraine to bedrafted into the Ukrainian army.[11] Lithuanian PresidentGitanas Nausėda, Prime MinisterIngrida Šimonytė and Defence MinisterLaurynas Kasčiūnas voiced support for the repatriation of military-age Ukrainian men to Ukraine.[12]
According to the 2016 census, 17,679ethnic Ukrainians were living in Lithuania, mostly inVilnius,Kaunas,Klaipėda,Šiauliai,Jonava, andVisaginas.[13] Moreover, Lithuania is a popular destination for the Ukrainian migrants and over 21,800 Ukrainians have work-based residence permits.[14][15] The Ukrainians evaluate Lithuania positively.[16][17]
Over 7,000ethnic Lithuanians are living in Ukraine and are represented by the Lithuanian community of Ukraine organization there.[18][19] Lithuania consistently supports Ukraine inRusso-Ukrainian War.[20][21][22] Lithuania has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine joiningNATO.[23]
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