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00:00:00Worker on Friday
00:00:03at 9:30 PM on LRT+
00:00:07more movies on LRT epika.
00:00:22News portal
00:00:23LRT.lt.
00:00:36So, we return to the LRT forum and continue the discussion,
00:00:39this time with candidates for the Association of Lithuanian
00:00:42Basketball presidents, that is, candidate for
00:00:45the association president Darius
00:00:48these things also Gudelis, good evening, as well as candidate for president Gediminas Kvietkauskas and
00:00:52candidate for association president Rolandas Kaizgirys. This
00:00:56is not a discussion, it is not a debate, just a discussion, so
00:00:59we won't follow debate rules here, but before starting
00:01:03the discussion, I have to say that Darius Gudelis and Rolandas
00:01:06Kaizgirys are my very old friends whom I have known for
00:01:10many years and quite well,
00:01:13e Gediminas Kvietkauskas
00:01:16of the film I produced, "To Catch a Hawk,"
00:01:20but I am sure that these facts
00:01:24will not have any impact on
00:01:27the quality of our discussion. Just before the show, e... the portal 15
00:01:31min.lt Gediminas announced that you
00:01:34are withdrawing your candidacy and
00:01:36supporting Rolandas Skaizgirys. Is that true
00:01:40and if so, why did you decide that way? First of all,
00:01:43I apologize for the information being leaked too early,
00:01:46so yes, that is true, I am ending my
00:01:50candidacy for LK president and
00:01:54expressing my support for Rolandas Skaizgirys. A, what
00:01:57led to your decision? It was an incredibly interesting two
00:02:00weeks and I really traveled around Lithuania meeting people. I didn't
00:02:04travel much, I really didn't travel much,
00:02:07but in my opinion,
00:02:11my own opinion changed many times, in the sense of whom to support
00:02:15and how those teams were formed.
00:02:19There was a really large number of events, it was incredibly
00:02:22interesting, e Milasius'
00:02:24resignation, although Rolandas was convinced that I would be the first
00:02:28to resign, so that was
00:02:30Remigijus' step, then Remigijus joining
00:02:34Darius Gudelis
00:02:36and arranging that whole picture, how
00:02:40were still guided by something, did you see that
00:02:44you didn't have opportunities, or did you think that by two
00:02:47of you supporting Rolandas, there would be a greater
00:02:50chance that, I don't know, your ideas would be implemented,
00:02:53what is the idea? First of all, I think I brought intrigue
00:02:57and more interest to the elections. It
00:03:00would be more intriguing if you had won, well then
00:03:03it would be a sensation, then it would be a real sensation.
00:03:07I
00:03:10myself declared, that is, for me these elections are my
00:03:13academic year, I really want to continue
00:03:17working for Lithuanian basketball e
00:03:20and as NKL president, National Basketball League
00:03:23president, Basketball League president and as a member
00:03:26of the community, as a member of the executive committee.
00:03:30"It is very interesting to me. I approximately
00:03:33imagine that I would like to participate in elections even after two years,
00:03:36not necessarily as a candidate, but as part of someone's
00:03:39team, and ultimately,
00:03:42Rolandas' vision, Rolandas' experience and the last
00:03:46debates made a great impression.
00:03:49I deliberately, by the way, for
00:03:52parity, because Darius Gudelis
00:03:55resigned
00:03:58excuse me. Remigijus
00:04:01Milasius for his sake, then today
00:04:04the news that the director of the National Basketball League joined Darius'
00:04:08team, and we need parity, so then I join Rolandas
00:04:11Skaizgirys. Okay, so a
00:04:13yes,
00:04:16a we can continue the discussion, I don't know what your role here
00:04:19is, it's so interesting, now that you've resigned, but let's do this,
00:04:23I'll focus on those two, if you want, send me some kind of signal
00:04:27that you want to
00:04:29interject." So let's start with
00:04:32a simple discussion of the three essential
00:04:35priorities, looking at the current situation, which in my
00:04:38opinion, I don't know if you agree with it or not, but in the first part
00:04:42it was probably very accurately diagnosed how the current
00:04:46situation looks, three priorities, the most important
00:04:49areas of activity a
00:04:52from which one should start and
00:04:55adhere to. Darius, your three priorities, yes,
00:04:58so those priorities are essentially short-term,
00:05:01because we're talking about a term of two years and
00:05:05we really have big challenges that we should
00:05:08focus on, so first of all, we have
00:05:11the Eurobasket Women's Championship next year, which means
00:05:15in nine months we have two qualifying windows for the women's national team
00:05:17to prepare. Here, a big focus and attention
00:05:21on how to mobilize that funding, which is not yet fully
00:05:24confirmed, how to ensure that the best
00:05:27players come and prepare properly, and the men's
00:05:31national team, we have a game on November 26th
00:05:35with Serbia in Klaipėda.
00:05:38I am really glad that all the candidates at that time...
00:05:42there were four, we made that rational,
00:05:46unifying decision to offer Dainius
00:05:49Adomaitis to take the position of head coach
00:05:52of the national team, and we see that in those two weeks Dainius
00:05:56has really done a significant job, he has already formed a staff, he has already essentially
00:05:59spoken with the main clubs,
00:06:02with the main players, both for
00:06:05the window stage and for the summer, and
00:06:08the third priority, this is one priority, the second
00:06:12priority, which was talked about a lot in the first part of the show,
00:06:16is division, so this is essentially
00:06:19how to make it happen in the short term, so that we
00:06:22unite again for a common goal, as we will discuss further, and the third priority
00:06:26and the third priority is
00:06:29the pyramid's clarification,
00:06:33adjustment and organization from the kindergarten
00:06:37level, from U9-11 year
00:06:40championships, from the school league. league moving to the regional league,
00:06:44to academies, private sports schools, a sports
00:06:48centers in municipalities, sports gymnasiums, of which we have three
00:06:51e, where we can nurture
00:06:55our young talents and up to the top
00:06:58of the pyramid, that is LKL and national
00:07:02teams. Rolandas, your three most important things, I will remind
00:07:06you of the time, the federation, these elections are developing
00:07:09so interestingly now, because I mean. not candidates
00:07:13withdrawing one after another, but a, that
00:07:17the time is half a term, even less,
00:07:19e, for which the president is currently elected, right? No,
00:07:23Edmund, it's never too late to start, really, yes,
00:07:27yes, but I mean, considering that, okay, what
00:07:30are your three priorities? I want to
00:07:33say that the pyramid doesn't need to be created, it has been created a long time ago
00:07:37and that is the most important thing,
00:07:40really, children. The transition of children
00:07:43to regions,
00:07:44women, I still think
00:07:48it's very important,
00:07:50in the pyramid,
00:07:52not the victories themselves, in principle they
00:07:56come, there are disappointments, but
00:08:00I imagine the state's basketball influence
00:08:03in the world, that is one of the most important
00:08:07things, really, I'll explain what I wanted to say,
00:08:10yes, and
00:08:12the performances of all national teams, both women's and men's,
00:08:16in European championships or
00:08:19qualifiers, I don't consider that a priority, that is
00:08:22a necessity, that is, no matter who is
00:08:25there, it happens automatically with
00:08:29the work of the entire environment's cohesion and
00:08:31so on. You say that can't even be a priority, because it is
00:08:35obvious that the biggest results of professional sports are
00:08:38the biggest reason why we, why we, I even teach children, really.
00:08:42Why do we, what do we fight for? So that
00:08:45we can get into the Olympics, individually, as a team,
00:08:48that is the highest, highest well, I don't know, for sports, why does a person
00:08:52play sports? Because you can earn millions
00:08:55of money, but not be
00:08:57in the Olympics,
00:09:00but being in the Olympics, you will probably really secure, in principle, a certain
00:09:03amount, a certain financial
00:09:06resource, because if you
00:09:10saw Djokovic when he won the Olympic. Because in principle, how
00:09:13he cries, in principle, this is, this is, this is
00:09:17civics, this is what it's about, your country's flag is raised and
00:09:21so on, so in principle, that's where we need to
00:09:23start teaching civics to the younger generation, that is,
00:09:27that is, I think that is, those are completely
00:09:30different, well such priorities, in principle, for that
00:09:33approach, fragmentation,
00:09:36division, what Gintarė Petronytė says, it has never
00:09:40been like this from the outside, frankly. It doesn't look like
00:09:44what the community sees, Jonas Kazlauskas also agrees with that, others here
00:09:47have also, that there has never been such division
00:09:51in the community, okay, if that's the case, Rolandas,
00:09:54how to change that,
00:09:57I already mentioned, you can't change
00:10:00that, um,
00:10:04it's impossible to reconcile, really, you won't reconcile NKL
00:10:07with RKL, why e, well,
00:10:10everyone has their own tasks. their own, their own goals, their own
00:10:13aspirations, I think that here, in principle, there must be
00:10:17a clear hierarchy
00:10:20with an honest approach, communication
00:10:23a... open communication
00:10:25and
00:10:28and well, let anyone throw stones at me
00:10:32who says it's possible to reconcile. Okay,
00:10:35Darius, how do you see e, is there
00:10:38a possibility to change the situation, if so, how? Or do you also not see
00:10:41a possibility? I see
00:10:44possibilities, because it is one of the president's functions
00:10:47to unite the association members, the entire basketball community, in order
00:10:51to achieve the goals set for the association.
00:10:55So the first thing, how to restore that trust, is to
00:10:58start with a financial audit, many
00:11:02questions arose both in the media and among
00:11:05community members, and indeed, in the past couple of weeks
00:11:08I have communicated a lot and there is a lot of
00:11:11concern due to not knowing how those funds are being spent, maybe
00:11:15there is no crime, maybe someone gets closer,
00:11:18someone goes further, but
00:11:21but essentially, let's do it transparently.
00:11:25Let's conduct a financial
00:11:27audit, let's involve professionals, an auditing company
00:11:31will conduct an audit, we will look at all contracts, we will look at
00:11:34obligations, and finally we will evaluate our
00:11:37financial capabilities, how much we can invest next year,
00:11:41or do we essentially just need to focus on patching holes
00:11:44and plugging them, let's present transparently and publicly
00:11:47a this financial
00:11:50audit report, so that the entire community can see how
00:11:53our funds are being used. And let's start talking, the second
00:11:57thing that coach Jonas
00:12:00Kazlauskas really emphasized, is to listen to those people, involve
00:12:04those people who are legends e
00:12:07who have gained immense experience, have great authority,
00:12:11let's sit down, listen, hear
00:12:14favorable and unfavorable opinions and lay out
00:12:18very clearly how we will train our youth, right, until
00:12:21now, for example, it is not clear, not confirmed.
00:12:25audits are done every year they are presented and
00:12:37it turns out not a discussion but a monologue, I try to be polite
00:12:41really and I will really remain so. if
00:12:44about finances then a
00:12:49this is completely chasing the wind,
00:12:52really, about about everyone. "A new
00:12:55manager will come, do an audit and everything will be clear, really, how it is, that's not
00:12:59the point, the point is really this, why reconciliation
00:13:02is, no need to create illusions here
00:13:05and no need to reconcile anything, every league, every, every
00:13:09organization, in the association lives its own life and
00:13:12and let's just give them an honest and fair relationship,
00:13:16because you understand the situation, I still
00:13:20claim that the basketball federation's, more precisely
00:13:23the association's budget." is 2.8 million
00:13:26euros, do you realize that it is
00:13:29the smallest budget of all
00:13:32leagues, do you understand that if you take
00:13:36the LKL budget, take the Žalgiris budget, the RKL
00:13:39budget, the basketball association
00:13:43has the smallest budget and it has to
00:13:45manage the least amount of money, the whole
00:13:49system and still give to everyone, do you really understand
00:13:52how there can be any reconciliation? Automatically everyone
00:13:56will immediately say I was given too little and I was given
00:13:59less attention, this is the problem, the problem is
00:14:03finances, finances, how to earn them and how to, how to
00:14:07you say that not spending
00:14:10money, but earning
00:14:12money is the problem, here I am answering for you, but that
00:14:16is, we need to focus on how
00:14:19to get more money, how to increase the budget, not how
00:14:22to crumble crumbs, precisely and precisely. E there are
00:14:26only two options, in principle, how to get more money,
00:14:29that is, good results in terms of sports, that is,
00:14:33the state has really created quite good brands and business would like
00:14:37to associate with winners, no, no, Edmund, let's not make
00:14:40such, meaning, wrong things, the state has created
00:14:44conditions for every sport to really fight for, for achieved results,
00:14:48quite large sums of money. Well, if
00:14:51for example, 3x3 basketball in four years can reach a point
00:14:55where it wins almost 1.5 million euros and
00:14:59my goal is that it would be 2.5 after two years or
00:15:02not, this is state, well that means it is possible, right,
00:15:05by focusing on professionalism, on
00:15:08certain things that are necessary
00:15:11in sports, when there are results,
00:15:14automatically we know what marketing is and what
00:15:18sales are, right, automatically other money appears there,
00:15:21so I see the problem in that, not
00:15:25in spending money, Darius, but
00:15:28in the amount of money, so in other words, that
00:15:32association that you intend to lead, one and the other,
00:15:36has too little.
00:15:41We agree, without a doubt, because basketball, basketball
00:15:44is the most popular sport, in which until now
00:15:48e the most e professionals
00:15:51and students and the biggest mass participation exists, yes,
00:15:55football is already starting to overtake, but football is starting to overtake because
00:15:58it manages to attract funding, not only
00:16:01from UEFA
00:16:04from international institutions, but also from the state.
00:16:07For the past two years, football has received additional state
00:16:11funding for mass participation and involving students,
00:16:15basketball did not receive it because the applications were not
00:16:19properly prepared to receive funding from the Ministry
00:16:22of Education, Science and Sport, perhaps, so
00:16:26need to be addressed. E Gediminas, I will use you as an assistant
00:16:30leader, for economic matters, since you are not participating, it's awkward
00:16:33that you won't speak, to increase the federation's budget.
00:16:38E I mean to attract more money from business,
00:16:41what are, because they won't appear from anywhere else, well, from the state, for mass participation,
00:16:44for certain programs, what
00:16:47are the essential components for that? Currently, the federation's
00:16:50reputation and we have discussions here in the national basketball
00:16:53league, where some sponsors are hesitant
00:16:57to sign, until the president takes care of things, until the
00:17:01reputation improves, of course here
00:17:03in a small league, but I think that elsewhere there are exactly the same problems, because money comes.
00:17:07only after reputation, when reputation is restored, money
00:17:10will come, what was the main reputational problem until
00:17:13now, I'm not talking about results, lack of transparency, lack of transparency,
00:17:17lack of transparency, distrust, and again from a small
00:17:20e episode of my national
00:17:24basketball league, inside there there is no
00:17:28disunity, clubs compete, but really, and we had
00:17:32a common discussion, they are all united, problems arise
00:17:35due to e...
00:17:40"such an episode, we talked as shareholders, identifying ourselves as the National
00:17:44Basketball League share, and before I
00:17:48came, the administration was appointed from above
00:17:51and they were used to not solving, because they couldn't do anything,
00:17:55so now they appointed their own administration by common
00:17:57agreement, and so, for now, they haven't appointed anyone, now our
00:18:01administrator can speak well, but what resonated
00:18:04is transparency, which are slightly different. things, what
00:18:08Gediminas talks about, this is a professional league and so on,
00:18:11the main money comes into a certain
00:18:14situation e, that is, precisely in that
00:18:18pyramid, it must be collected, precisely for those children, precisely for those
00:18:21coaches, because the teacher is the most important,
00:18:25it seems,
00:18:27well, at least everything starts from them, from parents and from the teacher, and
00:18:31with money, I will give a very good example in principle of Kibirkštis'
00:18:35rise to the Euroleague in two years. Looking
00:18:38at
00:18:46the women's team, he responsibly fulfills his
00:18:49duty, what was decided
00:18:53to give, we, like others, like
00:18:56shareholders, really united and created
00:18:59a budget of a million, 1.1 million
00:19:03and in terms of sports, meaning,
00:19:06knowing that with such money, one can already be in the Euroleague, we
00:19:10entered a certain, certain new stage
00:19:13of the Euroleague, so I also think, for example, about girls' and
00:19:16women's basketball, let's say, a completely different situation, 3x3
00:19:20basketball, women's, women's, if the women's national team 3x3
00:19:24would make it to the LA Olympics, that
00:19:27would be an additional, the federation would receive about 1.5
00:19:31million euros, money that could be entirely
00:19:34directed over four years, 1.5 million. directed to women's
00:19:38basketball, to children's basketball, that would fill all, all gaps,
00:19:42but to achieve that
00:19:44Olympics, we need to agree with
00:19:47the leagues, with professional teams, to get, to get
00:19:51players, a, that there would be, there would be conditions
00:19:54to train and so on and so forth, which I, for example,
00:19:57five years ago, when doing men's basketball, didn't have, because I
00:20:01always, in principle, well,
00:20:04didn't have conditions, neither from LKL, nor from Mr.
00:20:07Milasius, really, for help, I, I
00:20:11just struggled, really, in this case, now everything has really changed,
00:20:14please, Darius, yes, so if we are still talking about income, one
00:20:18aspect is commercial commercial federation income,
00:20:21the federation itself organizes national team
00:20:24games, both windows
00:20:28selling tickets and friendly
00:20:31games selling and television rights and selling
00:20:35tickets, until now well... the example of last summer
00:20:38clearly shows that, as far as I know, the federation did not collect about
00:20:422000 euros in revenue from tickets, because
00:20:45the wrong opponents were chosen for friendly
00:20:49games. and they didn't attract
00:20:52the attention of spectators, so let's talk about national teams
00:20:56like Spain, Germany, let's talk about
00:20:59the biggest halls, they didn't bring
00:21:03them, the federation is not an event organizing firm, so understand that, yes, yes, yes,
00:21:06but it is responsible for certain events, Edmund, you yourself organize events and
00:21:10you know that every event, to generate income, requires
00:21:14expenses, so of course, but I'm talking about
00:21:182.8 million, where there are no. expenses, there is only
00:21:21the pyramid construction, there are, really, all other money
00:21:24comes with risk, that you won't collect
00:21:28tickets, you won't sell them and automatically, well, here again
00:21:31everything is out of poverty, okay, we talk a little too much about money,
00:21:35although of course everything usually comes down to people
00:21:39and money, most likely even
00:21:42first to money, that pyramid, is
00:21:45it a pyramid, that is, preparing children
00:21:49no? Their ascent in young age
00:21:53seeing some kind of
00:21:55structure, right? In the pyramid there must be a vision, what is with
00:21:59the children, where are you going, let's say if, if the vision is that,
00:22:02today, what I also talked about, influence in world
00:22:06basketball, I wanted 3x3 to be the most influential
00:22:09in Lithuania, I didn't succeed, we are second, third, fourth, but we
00:22:13are extremely influential, if
00:22:15you take with children up to 15 years old, I can guarantee that we...
00:22:20"we are absolutely the best in Europe, not
00:22:23Spaniards, not French, not Italians, no, we are, we
00:22:27absolutely serve all of Europe with our
00:22:30basketball, there are problems that occur
00:22:33after 15 years old, so if we have,
00:22:36we have such an influence,
00:22:40I can really get cooperation with
00:22:43the American company Hoops through through, let's say,
00:22:46well, through these Buzeliai" in
00:22:50principle, relationships come, then
00:22:53we can further increase our influence, expand our
00:22:57influence, through this, funds for children come again in a completely
00:23:00different way, in principle, a pyramid, yes, Darius,
00:23:04yours, but the foundation of the pyramid is essentially
00:23:08coaches, teachers, who
00:23:11essentially, as Tomas Purlys said in the first part, essentially rely on
00:23:15enthusiasm, travel around
00:23:18two or three halls in one day. they have two or three groups per
00:23:21day, to earn their salary, and realistically, that
00:23:25salary, communicating with, with
00:23:28coaches, essentially a coach doesn't even have
00:23:32the status of a teacher, they don't even have it, if we talk about their
00:23:35qualification improvement matters, then
00:23:38e a teacher gets the status of a methodologist
00:23:42for life, a coach who has prepared
00:23:45a talent, who has raised
00:23:48e... a good generation, achieved certain
00:23:52results in Lithuania, after two years he
00:23:55loses that category and goes back down, in
00:23:58principle, well here these are already lobbying issues
00:24:02and they take a lot of time, maybe
00:24:05a year or two, not three, these things are the Minister of Education's
00:24:09order, to solve these issues
00:24:13it's not enough to be only basketball and
00:24:16and you have to be a leader in sports in Lithuania.
00:24:20"And basketball can have that exactly, and then solve all
00:24:23the problems of sports, what what is there, well
00:24:27imagine, the CIS basket increases by five euros in 10 years,
00:24:31inflation increased more, what is this, and
00:24:34we are, we, whether it's Aleknas or someone
00:24:38else, medals come and so on and no one gathers that
00:24:42community and and and we don't even fight for
00:24:45certain details that are needed."
00:24:51They are just athletes getting money, one minister
00:24:54told me, we give you that money,
00:24:58no, you don't give money to the state, we fight,
00:25:01athletes fight by glorifying the state, that is
00:25:05money earned in principle, and
00:25:08until that works, everyone thinks, oh, we'll give it, oh then, no, that's not how it works.
00:25:11isn't there, and because of that, we can't
00:25:15say, no, it won't be like that, there will be categories of coaches
00:25:18and coaches will not train 24 children, but will train
00:25:2215 children and there will be such and such
00:25:25rules, you can only do that by having influence, yes,
00:25:29and you, when you are a leader, when you are a leader in all
00:25:32sports, coaching Rolandas, one more very
00:25:35piquant detail, football and basketball, again
00:25:38e young footballers e
00:25:42are counted from the age of 12, basketball players from
00:25:46the age of 16 and the Ministry of Education.
00:25:50The basketball money basket for basketball
00:25:53is given from 16, and for football from 12 years old,
00:25:56now, as far as I know, there is a legal dispute between the federation and
00:26:00the Ministry of Education, that basketball.
00:26:02manage something, but you will definitely manage this, what I did,
00:26:09Our time is almost up, let's imagine a situation
00:26:13where you are elected president, maybe you will manage
00:26:15one thing, you won't
00:26:19we started with you, what you will definitely, definitely manage
00:26:22to do, first of all, to seat the authorities at one
00:26:25table, to hear opinions that are
00:26:28uncomfortable, to seek common solutions and...
00:26:32"as Rolandas says, to get that leadership, to go
00:26:36and talk from all sports, with the central government, with
00:26:39municipalities, and and and find those solutions, good,
00:26:43thank you, something, something similar, but only differently I
00:26:46would turn it around, to conduct an audit, but not only
00:26:50a financial one, a financial one is already happening, to conduct
00:26:53an audit of the entire community, that is
00:26:56all 162 association members, as
00:26:59the law says, everyone has the right to vote. That's how it
00:27:03is and indeed and to conduct an audit with them
00:27:06face to face then establish, well, that means
00:27:10establish, establish certain working groups
00:27:12united
00:27:15yes, absolutely yes and that and for that and for that we have exactly
00:27:18until Christmas time why only until Christmas
00:27:22new financial year there are many, many, many things
00:27:26sports results achievements and so on, here it's already
00:27:29really, well, Gediminas your such a strange one. I am today
00:27:33a resigned candidate, but you resigned almost during the show,
00:27:36so what's most important in a short time, now
00:27:39for basketball,
00:27:42what one of them really has to do I agree, I agree Rolandas, that that
00:27:46activity audit is something else than a financial audit
00:27:49and going through communities and here it could
00:27:53be a conference that would
00:27:56seek moments of cohesion, how, how, how to seek
00:27:59that unity, thank you, thank you for coming to... LRT
00:28:02forum, well, in a few days it will become clear who will become
00:28:06the president of the Lithuanian Basketball Association, but that is probably not
00:28:09the most important thing, the most important thing is that basketball should be
00:28:13such, about which I spoke at the beginning of the show, uniting the whole country,
00:28:17empowering, giving a,
00:28:20giving an understanding that small can overcome big and so
00:28:24on, as it was for many years before. Thank you
00:28:27for watching, see
00:28:28you.
00:29:06Hello, with you is the show "Week". United
00:29:10States President Donald Trump announces: Russia and
00:29:13Ukraine have agreed to stop striking each other's energy
00:29:17infrastructure. Although Volodymyr Zelenskyy says this
00:29:21agreement is news to him. This news comes just a couple of days after
00:29:25Trump allowed Russia to supply millions of tons of diesel to
00:29:28the global market. And according to Zelenskyy, this is a gift to Putin.
00:29:32Allowing him to continue the war. A war marked
00:29:35by increasingly brutal Russian strikes. This week,
00:29:38it claimed more than 100 lives. New Russian
00:29:42jet drones for the first time reached Lviv, which is already in the West.
00:29:45While Ukraine is developing new,
00:29:48intercepting drones to shoot down jet drones, in the country's
00:29:52north, air defense forces are hunting them with available
00:29:55weapons. Their efforts are complicated by the fact that Russia
00:29:59uses the Belarusian border to prepare drone attacks.
00:30:03The first line of air defenders was visited by LRT journalist
00:30:06Augustinas Šulija and operator Vaidas
00:30:08Greičiūnas. Long considered a quiet part of the Ukrainian
00:30:12front, the northern border of the country has recently been receiving more
00:30:16attention. This bridge connecting Belarus and Ukraine was
00:30:20blown up at the very beginning of the Russian invasion. However,
00:30:23recently Ukrainian politicians are increasingly warning
00:30:27that Russia may once again use Belarusian territory and launch
00:30:31a new offensive. Towards Kyiv. Ukrainians
00:30:35take these warnings seriously. The entire border with
00:30:38Belarus is heavily fortified. Not only against
00:30:41weapons that were used in 2022,
00:30:44but also against the growing drone threat.
00:30:48We plan to install nets over roads, currently they are installed
00:30:51above our stationary posts. Now the biggest
00:30:54focus is on the border with Russia. But when the
00:30:58work there is finished, it will move.