Lithuanian MPs meet with Ukraine's parliamentary speaker in Kiyv

VILNIUS – Lithuanian MPs Laurynas Kasciunas, Paulius Saudargas and Justinas Urbanavicius met with Russian Stefanchuk, speaker of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, in Kiyv on Monday to discuss support for the war-torn country under Russia's invasion.

"We are currently in Kyiv. I am speaking to you from the Verkhovna Rada," Kasciunas told BNS by phone. "We have discussed with Rada Speaker Stefanchuk how to continue working in diplomatic formats."

"We are supporting Ukrainians with weapons. We need to try to get all Western countries to do so, and we also need to tighten sanctions against Russia. We need to remove all [Russian] banks from SWIFT, and we need an embargo on energy resources," he said, adding that "Lithuania is constantly raising these issues".

Kasciunas, the chairman of the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense, also said that the Lithuanian MPs had invited, via Stefanchuk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address the Seimas.  

Kasciunas, Saudargas and Justinas Urbanavicius have been in Ukraine since Sunday and are to return to Vilnius on Tuesday.

The three MPs had already visited to Ukraine in early March.