As Fighting Escalates in Ukraine, Attention Focuses on Donald Trump
Mr. Linkevicius, who was in Avdiivka to meet with military and civilian officials before a major European security conference next week, said his country supported improved relations with Russia,
but "not at the expense of values and principles." In Avdiivka, where the sky is perennially filled with the acrid smoke from a giant coke and steel plant, the violence subsided just long enough for residents to begin getting back to life’s normal rhythms.
Linas Linkevicius, Lithuania’s foreign minister, who on Friday toured Avdiivka, a city on the eastern front, called
the statement "really valuable" though he acknowledged it came after "some fragmented comments" from Mr. Trump.
"It’s obvious that the Russian government wants to use this transitional period
and impose its version of events and spread disinformation." Mr. Trump only briefly alluded to the conflict in his letter to Lithuania’s president, Dalia Grybauskaite, praising her country on the occasion of its independence day for supporting "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine" among other things as a way of safeguarding European security.
However, Nikki R. Haley, Mr. Trump’s newly appointed ambassador to the United Nations, last week called
for an end to "the Russian occupation of Crimea" and for a halt in the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Mr. Linkevicius said that We really need U.S. leadership here,
This week, in a letter to Lithuania’s president, Mr. Trump seemed to echo that sentiment and personally expressed support for keeping Ukraine intact.