Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania visits the boundary line in the Donbas
On Saturday, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius visited a local school and one of the transit checkpoints in the frontier town of Stanytsia Luhanska.
On his Twitter, he shared his impressions from the visit. "I am at the Stanytsia Luhanska checkpoint on the line of contact. The only operating checkpoint in the region: a violation of the Minsk Agreements. People are standing in line for 4 hours in the heat. It’s inhumane and unacceptable,” the Lithuanian diplomat wrote.
The Head of the Luhansk regional administration, Yuriy Harbuz facilitated the tour for Linkevičius.
"It’s important to me to show the truth to Mr. Minister, who has a lot of influence on the EU policy. This truth is bitter. Thousands of people of different ages, mostly elderly people, have to stand in lines to cross from the temporarily annexed territory into the territory controlled by Ukrainian authorities. We should make every effort to put pressure on Russia regarding the establishment of the entry/exit checkpoint Zolotyi by the separatist administration as long as this exhausting war continues,” Harbuz stated.
Minister Linkevičius thanked the Luhansk State regional administration and the Security Service of Ukraine for exceptional professionalism during his visit. "We got fresh impressions and facts from the horse’s mouth about the real situation on the ground. Lithuania supports their close allies,” Linkevičius wrote.
"My message to the people of Ukraine: your struggle against the aggressor is not forgotten. Your struggle for freedom and the Euro-Atlantic future of your country has support. Lithuania and the international community stand in solidarity with Ukraine,” the Minister said.
Linkevičius came to Ukraine on June 20 in order to develop a Ukrainian-Lithuanian strategic partnership and collaboration at the international level regarding counteracting Russian aggression.