Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said that Western aid is getting to Ukraine too slowly as it battles the Russian invasion.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels ahead of a meeting by EU foreign ministers, Landsbergis, said that some vital military equipment Western allies had pledged to Ukraine wouldn’t arrive for years.
“We are creating the narrative, the story to tell our citizens that we are fighters for what’s good, but when it comes to deliveries, the story sometimes is very different,” he said, per The Baltic Times.
“Once again, we have to ask ourselves a question whether we ourselves are not a part of this problem. So far, no Patriot batteries that have been promised in Washington have been delivered,” Landsbergis said.
(Ukraine does have some US Patriot systems — Lansbergis appears to be referring to an extra shipment promised in April 2024 which Ukraine said on Thursday had yet to show up.)
“No new ammunition packages have been delivered since June,” Landsbergis continued. “Out of the F-16s that have been delivered, they have started using just a couple of them.”
“During our discussions with Ukrainian friends we find out that certain equipment that has been promised last year will only be delivered in 2027.”
He didn’t specify which equipment had been delayed to 2027.
He could mean a $55 billion EU aid package, approved in February, which is scheduled to be paid in installments till 2027, mainly for economic purposes. Recent military aid deals with European allies, including Spain, also involve annual installments until 2027.
His remarks echo those of Ukraine’s leaders, who’ve long said that Western help is arriving too slowly as it battles the grinding advances of the Russian military.
Leaders of Baltic states like Lithuania are among the sharpest critics, arguing that they are in the firing line should Russia win in Ukraine.
Back in May, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that aid packages from the West needed to arrive more quickly.
“Every decision to which we, then later everyone together, comes to is late by around one year,” Zelenskyy told Reuters.
According to the Kiel Institute, the US has given Ukraine $83 billion in aid in the wake of the Russian invasion, while European countries have given around $122 billion, though a greater proportion of the US aid packages are military.
