Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Lithuania, Ukraine

Photo: urm.lt

The foreign minister promised firm political support of Lithuania for Ukraine and assured of continued willingness of the Lithuanian partners to deepen collaboration both in the fields of peace and security, and reforms implemented by the Government of Ukraine, the press service of the Ukrainian Government said.

Yatsenyuk thanked for tangible and effective assistance from the Lithuanian partners and friends, noting the expert contribution of Lithuania in introduction of best advances practices to pursue the way of reforms in Ukraine, as well as humanitarian and financial aid provided by Lithuania to rehabilitate the Ukrainian military, internally displaced persons and to rebuild Donbas area.

Moreover, the head of the Ukrainian Government expressed gratitude for the continued support of Ukraine by Lithuania on the international stage - in the framework of the UN, the EU, the NATO and other international organizations.

The parties discussed particular bilateral cooperation projects. Special attention was paid to an e-government issue. The Lithuanian experience proves necessary to Ukraine to ensure development of a new regional policy, local self-government, curbing corruption, Ukraine's Government said.

According to the minister Linkevicius, military actions at the front line in Donetsk and Luhansk have become more intensive as separatists militants opened fire on the Ukrainian forces as many as 154 times in the last 24 hours.

"The situation is very far from real truce. This is a signal to all of us that we must continue with all available pressure measures, including sanctions," Linkevicius said in a telephone interview to ELTA, adding that Russian troops are still present in the Ukrainian territory, as well as their heavy weapons.

The Lithuanian foreign minister on Thursday met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

"We discussed those areas where Lithuania could help Ukraine with more assistance from experts. For example, we could share our great expertise in the e-government, e-services areas," Linkevicius said.