Europe must learn resilience from Ukraine’s wartime experience – Lithuanian envoy

The European Union must strengthen societal preparedness for crises and incorporate lessons learned from Ukraine’s experience during Russia’s full-scale military aggression.

Lithuania’s Permanent Representative to the EU, Nerijus Aleksiejūnas, said this in a comment to Ukrinform.

“I think that we should learn many lessons about how Ukrainians are resisting, how Ukrainians are organizing what is important for the civil preparedness,” the ambassador said.

He explained that this is why the European Commission has presented a number of relevant strategies, adding that Europe now needs to move from concepts to concrete steps in preparing for various adverse scenarios.

According to the diplomat, Lithuania and other Baltic states are leaders in this process.

He added that Lithuania has paramilitary civil society organizations, including the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union, which help prepare society for new challenges and enhance societal resilience.

“We need to inspire everyone in Europe and we are trying also to do that. And that is why, one of the priorities of our EU Council membership in 2027 will be also this part of civil preparedness, hybrid threats, disinformation and how to defend our values in a more general way,” Aleksiejūnas said.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, a unit of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France continues its campaign to support Ukraine by sending generators to the country.