On January 13, 2021, the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Lithuania took part in the commemorative events organized to mark the 30th anniversary of the Freedom Defenders' Day in Lithuania. Thirty years ago, on January 13, 1991, the Soviet government attempted to overthrow the legitimate government of Lithuania that had declared independence from the USSR on March 11, 1990. As a result, thousands of Lithuanians defended the Seimas (parliament) building and the TV centre in Vilnius. It is important that Ukrainians were among the numeruos defenders of these objects. In 2020, due to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda № 1K-180 of January 9, 2020, in addition to Lithuanian citizens, the state award of the Republic of Lithuania – «commemorative medal of January 13» was awarded to 11 citizens of Ukraine who «during the events in January –September 1991 took active part in defending the freedom and independence of Lithuania».
Today, at 800 am. memorial candles were lit on the windows of the building of the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Lithuania as a sign of unity and solidarity with the Lithuanian people and as part of the annual civil initiative «Memory is alive because it testifies», launched by the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania and supported by the President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda.
Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Lithuania Volodymyr Yatsenkivskyi laid flowers at the Memorial to the victims of the January 13 events at the Antakalnis Cemetery and honoured memory of the fallen with a moment of silence.
The ceremony took place in accordance with the strict quarantine requirements introduced in the Republic of Lithuania due to the spread of the acute respiratory disease COVID-19.