Lithuania to purchase 3,000 Lithuanian drones for Ukraine: Prime Minister

Lithuania will purchase 3,000 Lithuanian drones for Kyiv and allocate around $16 million rehabilitation programs for injured Ukrainian soldiers, the Prime Minister Ingrida Simonytė said at a joint news conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Vilnius, local media reported on Friday.

Shmyhal arrived in Lithuania earlier this week following his visits to Estonia and Latvia also.

"The defence minister informed me yesterday that Lithuania will soon purchase about 3,000 additional Lithuanian-made FPV drones for Ukraine, worth 2 million euros. We expect the drones to reach the frontline by the end of this year," Simonytė said on her Telegram channel.

Shmyhal said Lithuania is taking an active part in Ukraine's reconstruction and will allocate another $6 million for education and $13 million for helping veterans, rebuilding schools and kindergartens, and setting up shelters.

Since Russia's war on Ukraine, Lithuania has so far donated over $1 billion in aid and has recently contributed $38 million to the Czech initiative to purchase artillery shells for Ukraine, according to national broadcaster LRT.

Earlier this year, the Baltic country pledged around $215 million worth support package to Kiev.

Lithuania's defense contributions to Ukraine are one of the highest in the world in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) shares, according to the Kiel Institute of the World Economy.

The neighboring Latvia on Thursday pledged to donate over $1million in drones and to contribute over $10 million for shells in support of Kiev.