Ukraine’s Western allies should lift the limits they impose on weapons they deliver, allowing Kyiv greater freedom to hit targets in Russia, the Lithuanian foreign minister said in an interview Monday.
Gabrielius Landsbergis told French TV station LC1 he also backed French President Emmanuel Macron‘s proposal that military trainers be sent to Ukraine.
“From the beginning, we have made the mistake of limiting the Ukrainians because it could be seen as an escalation,” he said, adding that Ukraine’s supporters were “dominated by fear of Russia.”
According to Landsbergis, “the Ukrainians must be allowed to use the equipment provided to them so that they can achieve strategic objectives. They must be able to strike Russian territory, supply lines, and military units preparing to attack Ukraine.”
“Only one side has rules imposed on it,” he said. “We must abandon these rules that we created.”
He said that the Western military trainers present in Ukraine before Russia’s 2022 invasion should return to speed up the training of new forces.
“Lithuania is ready to rejoin a coalition headed by France, for example, to train Ukrainian soldiers in Ukraine.”
He also suggested “the French could really have a leadership position, by deploying anti-aircraft defense elements in the Baltic states and then convincing other allies to manage rotations there.”
But he said he opposed the idea of asking Beijing to pressure Moscow to stop the war, saying it risked creating a dependence on China.
“There is no free lunch, China will always demand a price,” he said. “By asking China to resolve a conflict in Ukraine, we’d be putting the keys to our security in their hands by not resolving the situation ourselves.”