On May 3 a formal deployment ceremony for a joint instructors group formed by officers and NCOs of Juozas Lukša Training Centre, Military Academy of Lithuania and the Engineer Battalion was held before deployment to the Military Training Operation in Ukraine at Juozas Vitkus Engineer Battalion. It will replace instructors of Duke Vaidotas Mechanised Infantry Battalion on the duty of assisting Ukrainians to reform, strengthen and bring their armed forces closer to NATO requirements in a joint effort with our allies at the Yavoriv International Peacekeeping and Security Centre. The Lithuanian troops will focus on supervision of and consultations concerning collective training conducted by Ukrainian instructors.
The leaving military personnel received keepsakes and group commander Maj Ramūnas Sabaitis was presented with a blessed flag of Lithuania according to a tradition - so that it would foster pride in our own state and symbolically protect the troops on the journey and guide back home safely.
"You are deploying to an international operation where you will be able to facilitate less sorrow, more calm, truth and compassion, and most of all - peace," Champlain of Kaunas Garrison Deacon Sgt 1st Class Audrius Jesinskas said blessing the troops before the operation in Ukraine.
Commander of the Engineer Battalion Lt Col Ramūnas Jurskis reminded the deploying troops in his address how lucky we were to live for 30 consecutive years in peace after long wars and occupations, and expressed delight that past misery had taught us compassion to others. "What should I wish you?," the Battalion Commander asked rhetorically. "What can you wish a teacher going to conduct another lesson Or a builder about to begin building another house? A surgeon before a surgery on another patient? You are standing here and you are deploying there because you are prepared for that. You are experts in your area, that's why you have been selected. So therefore I simply wish you to fly the flag of Lithuania high, to trust one another, to lend your body and soul to your task, and to came back home safely."
Two officers of the rotation will be deployed immediately, the rest will join them in Ukraine after several weeks.
Lithuania has been actively assisting Ukraine, supporting its independence and territorial integrity, and providing comprehensive aid since the beginning of the Russian aggression in Eastern Ukraine in 2014, however, Lithuanians are not taking part in combat actions in the area of the Anti-Terrorism Operation. Lithuanians have been assisting to train and enhance Ukraine's armed forces as part of the U.S.-led Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine since 2015, and the Lithuanian Military Training Operation in Ukraine was established in 2017, it can comprise up to 60 Lithuanian military instructors and civilian personnel of the national defence system in one rotation.
Photo credits: Pte 1st Class Mantautas Patašius
