Gabrielius Landsbergis also backs David Cameron and Emmanuel Macron on standing up to Putin

Lithuania’s foreign minister has raised the prospect of an ad hoc coalition of western countries sending military training personnel into Ukraine backed by ground-based air defence, days after Russia took an increasingly strident tone against what it sees as the threat of deeper western involvement in the war.

Speaking to the Guardian after meeting his British counterpart, David Cameron, in London, Gabrielius Landsbergis also backed the British foreign secretary for saying that Ukraine could use British-made weapons against Russia; remarks that alongside Emmanuel Macron refusing to rule out western troops in Ukraine prompted the Kremlin to threaten UK assets and order a tactical nuclear training exercise.

Foreign secretary in Lithuania for four years, Landsbergis has long called for tougher action against Russia, but his latest remarks have shown that there is support in parts of Europe for the muscular line recently adopted by the French president.