Lithuania to build 'defence line' along Baltic borders

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

Lithuania has revealed plans to dig a 30-mile-wide ribbon of defences on its borders with Russia and Belarus that will include minefields and bridges set to blow up in case Russia invades. The plans are part of a Baltic-wide push for more defence, amid increasing aggression from Russia and its allies. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, alongside Poland, have been fortifying their borders, adding obstacles and redoubts to existing fences. All four are also looking for EU funding for these projects.
When complete, having been in the works since early last year, the Baltic defence line is estimated to be more than 940 miles long and will limit Russia's ability to launch attacks from its own territory, Kaliningrad and Belarus. Lithuania, in particular, began setting up dozens of so-called 'engineering parks' filled with 'counter-mobility' equipment. These initially included razor wire, concrete roadblocks, Czech Hedgehogs (a type of anti-tank barrier), as well as dragon's teeth (concrete pyramids).
But Lithuania has now said that it is looking to further layer its defences, stretching them wide enough to protect Vilnius, the capital. Lithuania's border with Kaliningrad and Belarus is over 590 miles long. The new ribbon will be made of three layers. The first, estimated to be three miles wide, will begin with an anti-tank ditch next to the border fence. This will then be followed by an embankment, strips of dragon's teeth and minefields, and then two layers of strongpoints for defending infantry. The second and third layers will see bridges primed with explosives that can be detonated at will, as well as more lines of infantry. Lithuania is also planning on felling trees along the roads leading to towns and cities, which is expected to assist in destroying Russian armoured vehicles. The aim of the new project is to slow down land attacks and push enemy forces into easier battlegrounds, not to entirely prevent attacks.
Lithuania currently has 23,000 professional soldiers, along with 104,000 reservists. It has raised its defence spending to 5.5%, one of the highest rates of any NATO nation. But war games last year suggested that Lithuanian troops would struggle to fight off an invasion from Russia, until other members of NATO stepped in to deliver reinforcements. Things would be far worse if Russia seized the Sulwalki gap, the Lithuania-Poland border that is NATO's land connection to the Baltics. Lithuania is expected to also implement anti-personnel mines, mines designed for use against people as opposed to vehicles and equipment, after Lithuania pulled out of the Ottowa Convention along with several other NATO members. However, it has also placed a €10million (£8.6million) order for anti-tank mines on top of prior deals to buy 85,000 of them at the cost of €50million. It has also replenished its arsenal of 155mm artillery shells, the NATO standard, and has ordered 44 top-of-the-line Leopard 2A8 battle tanks from Germany. It has also bought €6million worth of Israeli Spike LR2 anti-tank missiles.
This included €70.3billion for munitions, €52.5billion for combat vehicles and €36.6billion for naval vessels and equipment. In June, Germany's defence chief has starkly warned that NATO should be prepared for a possible attack by Russia in the next four years. General Carsten Breuer said Russia poses a 'very serious threat' to the Western defence bloc, the likes of which he has never seen in his 40-year military career.
Breuer pointed to the massive increase in Vladimir Putin's armoury and ammunitions stock, including a massive output of 1,500 main battle tanks every year as well as the four million rounds of 152mm artillery munition produced in 2024 alone. He said that not all of these additional military equipment was going to Ukraine, which signalled a possible building up of capabilities that could be used against the NATO bloc, adding that Baltic states were at a particularly high risk of being attacked. 'There's an intent and there's a build up of the stocks' for a possible future attack on Nato's Baltic state members,' he told the BBC.
General Carsten Breuer said Russia poses a 'very serious threat' to the Western defence bloc, the likes of which he has never seen in his 40-year military career.' 'This is what the analysts are assessing - in 2029. So we have to be ready by 2029... If you ask me now, is this a guarantee that's not earlier than 2029? I would say no, it's not. So we must be able to fight tonight,' he said. Breuer said that the Suwalki Gap, a region that borders Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Belarus, was particularly vulnerable to Russian military activity. 'The Baltic States are really exposed to the Russians, right? And once you are there, you really feel this... in the talks we are having over there,' he said. The Estonians, he said, had given the analogy of being close to a wildfire where they 'feel the heat, see the flames and smell the smoke', while in Germany 'you probably see a little bit of smoke over the horizon and not more'.
Earlier this year, Latvia's intelligence agency, the Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB), released a shocking report claiming that 'Russian intelligence and security services are currently developing their capabilities to organize sabotage in Europe' in preparation 'for a possible military confrontation with NATO in the long term'. Should a peace deal play out to 'freeze' the conflict in Ukraine along existing battle lines, Moscow 'would be able to increase its military presence next to NATO's north-eastern flank, including the Baltics within the next five years', the report claimed. 'This scenario would significantly increase Russia's military threat to NATO,' the SAB assesses. Denmark last year came to a similar conclusion, that Russia could attack a NATO country within three to five years and 'test' the bloc's Article 5 commitment of mutual defence. Dr Kenton White, politics and international relations expert at the University of Reading, told the Daily Mail that NATO is right to be concerned about the Russian threat. 'Russia has a long history of learning from military failures,' he said. 'NATO should not underestimate that ability.
Lithuania's announcement comes after Russia wounded at least 14 people, including a family with three children, in an overnight attack on Ukraine's northern region of Sumy. The strike took place at a time of intense efforts by US President Donald Trump to bring an end to the Russian war in Ukraine. Russia launched 15 drones in an assault on the Okhtyrka area in the early hours of Wednesday, local prosecutors said on the Telegram messaging app. The children injured in the attack, which struck a residential neighbourhood in the town, were aged 5 months, 4 years and 6 years, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on X. 'Russia continues to manifest its fears through acts of pure terrorism across Ukraine, once again targeting the homes of families and their sleeping children,' she said.
Russia has repeatedly said it does not attack civilians or civilian infrastructure. Overall, Russia launched a total of 93 drones and two missiles to attack the country overnight, the Ukrainian air force said, adding it downed 62 drones and one missile, and recorded hits at 20 locations. Ukraine's State Emergency Services reported a 'massive drone strike' on the southern region of Odesa, saying one person was wounded and a large fire erupted at a fuel and energy facility.