“We need to support Ukraine not only financially and economically, but also militarily. [We shouldn’t] send soldiers because that’s not being discussed, but at least [we] should support the armed forces, I would say, with weapons for defense,” Linkevicius said before a meeting of heads of European Union foreign ministries.
The US Congress has recently called for the provision of lethal assistance to the Ukrainian government forces, that have been fighting independence supporters in the South-East of Ukraine since April 2014.
At the conference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out any possibility of arms supplies to Ukraine, stating that there is no military solution to the conflict in Donbas. Other European states, including Finland, France and Italy have also rejected the idea of weapons deliveries.
By contrast, US Senator John McCain said, addressing the conference, that Western nations must provide Kiev with weapons.
Ukraine currently receives only non-lethal aid.
On Wednesday, the leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine are expected to meet in Belarusian capital Minsk in a bid to find a solution to the Ukrainian crisis, that has killed over 5,000, according to the United Nations.
