Amid increasing concerns over the EU's defence capabilities, Lithuania's defence minister has emphasised the bloc's under-preparedness.
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00:00NATO allies are meeting today to understand the implications of the Trump administration's
00:05announcement that the U.S. will no longer prioritize European and Ukrainian security.
00:13Washington has said NATO membership for Ukraine is unrealistic, and that Ukrainian aspirations
00:19of returning to pre-2014 borders were also unlikely.
00:24The Lithuanian defense minister told Euronews that NATO is now at a very difficult moment,
00:29given the slow nature of Europe's defense capabilities.
00:36I think we are in the beginning of a very difficult process, where we will have to find
00:43the specific ways to generate strength.
00:47What is a good part of the message is that peace through strength was reiterated all
00:54around the world.
00:55What does that mean, though, if you've just weakened Ukraine's position?
00:58As I said, I think we are in the beginning of a difficult conversation.
01:02And one of the elements which is going to be critical, and as I understand also there
01:07is an agreement in the room that it's necessary, is our own capabilities.
01:13Because how can we sustainably help Ukraine if our own defense capabilities are being
01:20developed slower than that of the aggressor?
01:24The size of Ukrainian army and the size of our defense industry, of our own defense capabilities,
01:34they are not matching the speed of Russian military industry, of Russian transition from
01:43peacetime to wartime economy, of Russian assembly of troops at quite a threatening speed.
01:50So therefore, yeah, I agree with that.
01:53Maybe in the beginning of conversation we have to agree that strength is not on paper.
01:58Strength is on the ground.
01:59It's our troops.
02:00It's our weapons.
02:01It's our defense industry.