Lithuania will invest €100 million in a new military training ground near the Suwalki Corridor, citing army expansion and increased NATO presence.
Lithuania plans to allocate 100 million euros for the construction of a new military training ground in the town of Kapchyamestis, located about 10 kilometers from the junction of the borders of Lithuania, Belarus, and Poland. This was announced on Saturday by the press service of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense.
The ministry said the funds will be invested in the development of firing ranges and related military infrastructure. According to the Defense Ministry, at the beginning of 2025 the Lithuanian Armed Forces formally expressed the need for a new training ground due to the formation of a national division and the growing presence of allied forces in the country. At present, brigade-level centralized training can only be conducted at the Pabrade and Rudninkai ranges, while all other sites are limited to company-level capacity. The ministry also noted that the Lithuanian army is expanding and becoming heavier following the acquisition of new military equipment, including armored vehicles, tanks, and artillery systems.
The choice of Kapchyamestis was explained by its strategic location in southern Lithuania, near the border with Poland and within the Suwalki Corridor. The Defense Ministry pointed out that existing Lithuanian training grounds are located along the state border — in Pabrade, Rudninkai, and Taurage — while southern Lithuania has so far lacked comparable military infrastructure.
The Suwalki Corridor is a strip of territory along the border between Lithuania and Poland, situated between Belarus and the Kaliningrad Oblast. It is less than 100 kilometers long and serves as Lithuania’s only land connection to the main territory of the European Union.