Lithuania: Minister urges NATO to fund Ukraine’s defence industry

Lithuania’s Defence Minister, Laurynas Kasciunas, urged NATO allies to form a coalition to fund Ukraine’s defence industry, BNS reports. Lithuania will allocate EUR 10mn to Ukraine for the acquisition of long-range weapons manufactured in Ukraine. Kasciunas urged other countries to do the same, either by transferring the purchased weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (ZSU) or by contributing to ZSU’s own procurements. Ukraine’s Minister of Strategic Industries, Oleksandr Kamyshin, said that Lithuania would pay for Ukrainian-made Palianytsia drone missile systems, Militarnyi reported. Kasciunas reiterated Lithuania’s call to remove restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons inside Russia. Lithuania has provided more than EUR 647mn worth of military aid to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.