Heavy combat unit of 4,800 soldiers and 200 civilian staff inaugurated in Lithuania on Nato’s eastern flank
The German chancellor has visited Lithuania to mark Berlin’s first permanent foreign troop deployment since the second world war, as he called on allies to dramatically expand their efforts to bolster European defences against a hostile Russia.
As a crowd waved Lithuanian, German and Ukrainian flags, Friedrich Merz and his defence minister, Boris Pistorius, attended a ceremony launching the official formation of an armoured brigade aimed at protecting Nato’s eastern flank.
The new heavy combat unit, the 45th tank brigade, will comprise 4,800 German soldiers and 200 civilian staff. It was announced in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and is scheduled to reach full operational capacity by 2027.
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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/22/germany-anti-russian-defence-nato-lithuania-friedrich-merz
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