Lithuania Punches Above its Weight Pitching-In to Help Ukraine

Lithuania suffered under Soviet occupation for over 50 years. During this period Lithuania, like Ukraine today and in the past, did not give-in easily to Moscow's whims. Lithuanians continued their fight against Russia's occupation, via the "Forest Brothers," who waged guerrilla warfare against the communist state from 1944 until 1956.

The popular desire to see a free Ukraine is evidenced when roaming the streets of Vilnius, where Ukrainian flags are nearly as prevalent as they are in Kyiv, and also in solid, citizen-led actions to support Ukraine.

Though the average salary in Lithuania is around $1700 per month, this past summer, Lithuania made headlines when it crowd-sourced almost $6 million, within only three days, to purchase a Turkish Bayraktar drone for the Ukrainian military.

The fundraising, by ordinary citizens, did not stop there. They raised further funds to enable the purchase of three naval drones by year end.

Earlier this month, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Health met with representatives of a Lithuania furniture manufacturer, DUV Limited. The fifteen year-old company produces collapsible, plywood furniture that can be readily transported and reassembled in minutes without the need for tools. These have proved indispensable with hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians mobilized or forced to sleep in bomb shelters.

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The corporation donated tens of thousands of dollars of their mobile beds to Ukraine. Earlier donations, which were donated with mattresses, can currently be found in some of the bomb shelters of Ukraine. It is anticipated that future donations will be used in battlefield hospitals and provide a place to sleep for the police and internally displaced persons.

Mykhailo Radutskyi, who heads the Parliamentary Committee thanked not only the company, whom he referred to as "our loyal Lithuanian friends," but also the support of Vilnius' Ambassador in Kyiv, Valdermaras Sarapinas, who had been instrumental in organizing this large donation of essential supplies.