Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda arrived on June 28 for an unannounced visit to Kyiv, where he will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the 27th-anniversary of Ukraine's Constitution, Nauseda's press service wrote.
Nauseda will discuss the agenda of the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius with Zelensky, Ukraine's membership in the European Union, and Lithuanian and European Union aid to the country.
NATO's 31 member states will meet in Vilnius in July to discuss a number of issues, including potential security guarantees for Ukraine, Sweden's entrance into the alliance, and Stoltenberg's possible successor.
Lithuania has acquired two launchers for the NASAMS air defense system and will soon transfer them to Ukraine, Nauseda announced on June 28.
This marks the first transfer from Lithuania of the NASAMS system, which has been in service in Ukraine since late last year after being delivered by the United States to defend Ukraine's airspace.
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, used in an air-to-air function in Western fighter jets.
This means that the missile is in large supply, giving Ukraine more of what it needs to continue defending its sky against Russian missiles and aircraft as the ammunition for its Soviet-era air defense systems begins to run low.
Martin Fornusek
(Updated: )
