Lithuania will deliver the previously pledged NASAMS launchers to Ukraine in September, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said during his visit to Kyiv on Aug. 23.
"Today in Kyiv I told my dear friend President (Volodymyr Zelensky) that Lithuania will keep supporting Ukraine until victory," Nausėda wrote on the platform X (formerly known as Twitter).
"Lithuania will deliver NASAMS launchers to Ukraine next month."
On June 28, Nausėda announced that Lithuania has acquired two NASAMS launchers and will soon transfer them to Ukraine. The Lithuanian Defense Ministry said early in August that the launchers would be delivered "soon."
According to the ministry, Vilnius has already provided Kyiv with "Mi-8 helicopters, L-70 anti-aircraft aircraft with cartridges, M113 armored personnel carriers, millions of artillery pieces, and cartridges with grenades" in 2023, as well as training and medical support for Ukrainian soldiers.
The NASAMS systems have been in service with Ukrainian forces since November 2022, when the U.S. delivered the first batteries amid the escalating Russian airstrikes. Norway has also provided two systems in March 2023 and has already pledged to deliver two more launchers.
The NASAMS system, which has a maximum range of 50 kilometers depending on the model used, is particularly valuable for Ukraine as it uses the AIM-120 AMRAAM interceptor missile, which is the same missile used in air-to-air function in Western fighter jets.
Elsa Court
(Updated: )
