Lithuania’s capital Vilnius presented on Wednesday, April 23rd, an evacuation plan in case of war, as the Baltic nation worries Russia could target the former Soviet republic next after its invasion of Ukraine.
Lithuania, a NATO and EU member, has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Moscow’s 2022 invasion, and has since ramped up defence spending and training.
The three main evacuation routes run west, “as the enemy has historically come from the east,” Vilnius’s Mayor Valdas Benkunskas said at a press conference.
“We do not want to cause panic,” he said. “Our goal is clear: to have a plan, to have coordination between institutions, to know who is responsible for what, and to trust our defence forces… hoping that this plan will never need to be activated.”
The city aims to hold evacuation drills in the autumn.
In a recent interview, Lithuania’s defence minister Dovilė Šakalienė said that Germany should have nuclear weapons to deter Russia from attacking Europe.
