Listen to the news

A group of military technical specialists from Ukraine left Lithuania today after completing a training course to repair German howitzers delivered to Kyiv to defend against the Russian invasion, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.

All about the topic:

Russian invasion of Ukraine 8674

Sixteen people spent the last 15 days in training in the city of Rukla, and some of them have already undergone preliminary training in Germany.

"They received theoretical training, but we also taught them how to act in real situations with common failures that are not described in the technical manuals," Lithuanian Army Major Žilvinas Cherkus told AFP.

Lithuania, a NATO member, has owned German howitzers since 2016. In June, Berlin announced it would supply 155mm self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine.

Spiegel magazine reported in November that the provided weaponry was being used intensively, with some of the howitzers firing as many as 300 a day. 

Due to the lack of possibility of repair in Ukraine itself, some of the howitzers are delivered to NATO member countries, mostly Lithuania.

Lithuania again called for a greater presence of German troops on its territory

According to Cherkus, the conducted training will save time and resources, as repairs will be able to be carried out near the battlefield instead of waiting a month or two for repaired weapons to be returned from another country. 

A Lithuanian military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the lack of regular maintenance sometimes leads to the breakdown of howitzers in Ukraine.

This year, Lithuania's army trained 500 Ukrainian soldiers and plans to triple that number next year.

"The common enemy motivates us for this," Cherkus emphasized.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Lithuania