Lithuania's FM calls on allies to deploy resources to secure victory for Ukraine

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis criticized the idea of a "peace agreement" with Russia and stressed that talk of Ukraine's "recovery" is hollow if the country is left vulnerable, waiting for the next attack from the aggressor.

Landsbergis made the remarks on his X account, Ukrinform reports.

"I hear victory is 'unrealistic' and not even worth fighting for. [...] In desperation some hallucinate that a 'peace agreement' would be achievable, effective, practical and sustainable, a magic wand to make all the bad things go away. Some hope a 'peace agreement' would not only wash away our sins, but also make people forget that victory has always been possible. Sure, we could have won at any time, even now, but we chose to lose instead. Worse than that, we forced our choice on Ukraine," he wrote.

Landsbergis also quoted Winston Churchill's advice: "We must choose between war and dishonor. We are choosing dishonor, and we will have war."

"We all agree Chamberlain made a mistake when he trusted Hitler to be happy with stealing only half a country. Being kind, we could blame naïveté. But today we cannot claim this defense. Repeating his mistake is a choice, it's either stupid or cynical," he said.

He added that world leaders often sit around tables discussing Ukraine without inviting Ukraine, whereas the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) countries, sitting on Russia's border, are collectively the second largest provider of military aid to Ukraine but are sidelined too.

"Much hubris is required in order to ignore the advice of countries with decades or even centuries of experience of resisting the Kremlin, i.e. hundreds of years of crossed borders and broken 'agreements.' We don't enjoy being right about this, we just ask that you listen. The 'peace agreements' being floated would condemn millions of people to misery, occupation and fates worse than death. Talk of 'recovery' is hollow if Ukraine is left vulnerable, waiting for the next attack. Investments will not flow, refugees will not return," Landsbergis said.

According to him, failure to defend fundamental principles would simply project the West's weakness to all observers, "inviting aggression from those who wish to exploit our apparent tendency to abandon non-NATO allies."

"I therefore respectfully ask my colleagues to reconsider the huge benefits of saving our reputation globally by deploying our vastly superior resources to secure victory for our bravest and most capable ally, providing whatever it takes, with no hands tied," Landsbergis concluded.