Why Lithuania is considering sending soldiers to Ukraine

Good morning.

Today, Lithuania’s prime minister tells my colleague why her country stands ready to put boots on the ground in Ukraine. And we have a dispatch from the student protests spreading across Europe and demanding that universities cut ties with Israel as it continues its attack on Gaza.

We’re taking a break until next week due to the Ascension bank holiday. Have a great (long) weekend.

At the ready

Lithuania is prepared to send its soldiers to Ukraine on a training mission, its prime minister told Andy Bounds.

Context: Lithuania, which declared independence from Moscow in 1990, wants to strengthen its military support for Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed sending European soldiers to Ukraine, though other countries have been wary of provoking a direct confrontation with Russia.

Ingrida Šimonytė told the FT she had parliamentary permission to send troops to Ukraine for training purposes — something her government has floated before — but that Kyiv had not yet asked for this.

Šimonytė acknowledged that Russia would consider it a provocation, but added: “If we just thought about the Russian response, then we could not send anything. Every second week you hear that somebody will be nuked.”

This week, Russia conducted drills with tactical nuclear weapons in response to Macron’s comments. Šimonytė doubted the weapons would be used, given the radioactive fallout would also hit Russia. “Most of the time the winds blow from west to east,” she noted drily.

According to Šimonytė, Russia has been intensifying attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure such as power stations, schools and hospitals. “Russia is trying to provoke a new wave of people fleeing Ukraine because there are no basic utilities and no basic services,” the Lithuanian premier said.

The EU hosts more than 4.2mn refugees from Ukraine. But more than two years into the war, people in some European countries are growing critical of the support given to Ukrainians.

Šimonytė played down reports that Lithuania was helping return men of fighting age to Ukraine, which is desperately trying to recruit more soldiers. “We will not be arranging deportations, or looking for Ukrainian men in the country because this would not be legal,” Šimonytė said, adding that the EU has guaranteed them protection until March 2025.

However, those who Kyiv proves to have evaded military service might be denied permanent residence, Šimonytė said. She was “keen to help Ukraine, to ensure that it has the potential to renew its armed forces and to let people who have been fighting for a long time to rest”.

Chart du jour: Still hot

As we witness yet another spell of record temperatures — and unusually wet weather in parts of Europe — scientists warn of more extreme weather patterns globally, with heatwaves, droughts and flooding becoming more common.

Free universities

Student protests against Israel’s military operations in Gaza have spread to Europe, and as with every good occupation movement, the authorities are not exactly thrilled about the disruptions.

Context: The break-up of pro-Palestine protests at New York’s Columbia University that began last month has galvanised students across Europe, who are also calling for academic institutions to cut ties with Israel and take a stand in the ongoing conflict.

German police yesterday dispersed several dozen protesters who had set up camp at Berlin’s Freie Universität. The university filed charges for trespassing and vandalism, and Berlin’s higher education senator Ina Czyborra said that protests “which are aimed at confrontation” were not “legitimate”.

Next door in the Netherlands, police broke up a similar protest earlier that day at the University of Amsterdam, detaining several dozens of people. In Brussels, students have occupied a building of the French-speaking Free University, and police in France have repeatedly kicked out protesters from the famed Sciences Po Paris.

This has even drawn the attention of France’s upper echelons, with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal yesterday warning against “selective indignation” which “must stop on the part of those who always raise a voice against Israel, but who are voiceless in the face of Hamas and its abuses”. 

In Ireland, students camping on the grounds of Trinity College Dublin have blocked access to the ancient Book of Kells manuscript stored there. Trinity said it is “in solidarity with the students in our horror at what is happening in Gaza” and was seeking to end investment in Israeli companies. But it has also fined the Trinity Students’ Union €214,000 for loss of revenue over the “disruptive” protests.

Camps and protests have also sprung up at universities in Austria, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Italy and the UK.

What to watch today

1. Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Hungary.

2. Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg meets Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome.

3. Finland’s President Alexander Stubb visits Germany to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Now read these

• Explosive: This year has seen prolific missile attacks. Why missiles now? And will they change who fights and wins wars? Jacquelyn Schneider explains.

• Prosciutto patrol: Italy is deploying its army to hunt wild boar who are spreading a deadly virus impacting the country’s ham and sausage industry.

• Rejected: The US government has revoked export licences that allow Intel and Qualcomm to supply Huawei with semiconductors as the Biden administration ramps up pressure on the Chinese telecoms equipment company.