Lithuania to take part in international military exercise in Ukraine

Lithuania will be represented by an infantry reconnaissance platoon formed by King Mindaugas Hussar and the Grand Duke Butigeidis Dragoon Battalions and several staff officers, 38 soldiers in total, at the exercise.

“Deployment to this exercise will give Lithuanian military an excellent opportunity for exchanging experience from multinational operations, developing and continuing the successful military cooperation with between Lithuanian, NATO, Ukrainian and other partner countries’ troops,” Commander of the Lithuanian Land Force Major General Almantas Leika said. Such cooperation encompasses service in combined units deployed to multinational operations, participation in international military exercises, expert-level experience sharing, etc.

Exercise Rapid Trident is a United States European Command-scheduled peace support exercise in Ukraine. The exercise is aimed at expanding and enhancing multinational military cooperation between US, NATO and Partnership for Peace (PfP) countries, interoperability among the armed forces of NATO states and partners, and at contributing to the enhancement of regional security and stability. Last Exercise Rapid Trident took place in Ukraine last year.

This year the exercise will involve roughly 1,300 military personnel from 15 states – NATO and partner countries: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Georgia, Spain, the US, Canada, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Romania, Ukraine and Germany.

Rapid Trident 2014 will train participants convoy, patrol, counter-IED and similar tactics with a particular focus on training for multinational peace support and stability operations.