Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene has told European countries to “move faster” to strengthen their security as there has been large geopolitical movements since Donald Trump entered the White House.
Sakaliene said Europe must bolster their security amid Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, she said, “When you feel that your own ass is burning, you start to move faster.”
The Lithuanian Defence Minister said, “So I do hope that we will start to move faster in the next few months.”
He comments come as world leaders are Kyiv to come up with a decisive strategy for Ukraine’s security as the war enters its fourth year.
The US President is intensifying his diplomatic reach to Moscow and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been sidelined from the US-Russian peace negotiations.
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Sakaliene said at the conference in Kyiv, “We need to strengthen our transatlantic bond. Even though we are a dysfunctional family, a divorce is not an option,” the Kyiv Independent reported.
Lithuania’s former Foreign Minister Babrielius Landsbergis warned, “Europe has to understand we are in this fight most likely alone, there’s us and Ukrainians and no one else. We pick up this battle or lose.
“Is Europe actually alive? If it still hasn’t woken up, what’s happening with the patient?”
Landsbergis said that Europe should confiscate around $200 billion frozen assets and deploy peacekeepers inside Ukraine.
He said, “The only question that remains is whether we ask Putin for permission. It’s not a joke. Leaders in Europe say, ‘We will send troops if (Russian President Vladimir) Putin allows it.’
“This is the mentality, and we need to break it.”
Bsinessman and oligarch Viktor Pinchuk said at the conference, “Europe needs to completely change its understanding of this moment and do something simple but revolutionary use $300 billion frozen Russian assets for Ukraine, increase the military budget at least to 3%, spend much more money on supporting Ukraine and your own defence, send soldiers to Ukraine, and take Ukraine into the EU now, not later.
“This is the right response to this moment. You are not just witnesses to this moment; you are participants.”
