Lithuanian military actively collaborates with Ukraine and applies its combat experience

The Lithuanian armed forces are engaged in ongoing cooperation with Ukraine’s military, directly adopting and implementing lessons from its wartime experience, the defence ministry confirmed in a statement on Monday.

According to a LRT report, the collaboration involves structured exchanges with a major Ukrainian unit, as well as direct engagement between corresponding Lithuanian and Ukrainian military formations. “This cooperation means the direct transfer, analysis, and application of learned lessons to the tasks of Lithuanian units,” the statement read, noting that nearly all branches and commands of Lithuania’s military participate—except one specialised subunit.

The announcement follows public claims that Lithuania has not drawn from Ukraine’s combat experience. The military dismissed these as unfounded, stating: “The need to learn from an active battlefield is obvious—and learning is taking place. Our personnel are professionals, not amateurs.”

Lithuania also hosts rotating Ukrainian military personnel for training and coordination. Beyond formal military ties, the statement confirmed ongoing cooperation with Lithuanian citizens currently engaged in combat operations or frontline support in Ukraine.

While the defence ministry did not confirm the presence of Lithuanian troops in Ukraine, it acknowledged that senior Lithuanian officers regularly visit the country to maintain working relationships and exchange updates on tactical lessons. “Active cooperation with Ukraine has existed since Lithuania’s independence [in 1990], intensifying after 2014,” the statement noted, referencing the start of Russia’s conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Lithuania and other NATO members have expanded training programs for Ukrainian forces, sharing standardised instruction methods to “ease the burden on Ukrainian instructors,” the military added.