In Lithuania, since the start of 2026, more than 8,100 people have applied to undertake compulsory basic military service on a voluntary basis. This is a record figure, according to a statement issued on 14 July by the Military Commandant\u2019s Office of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Due to the limited number of places, not all applicants will be able to begin their service this year.<\/p>\n
Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the Lithuanian Armed Forces, nearly 4,400 people had submitted applications even before the annual list of conscripts was drawn up. After the list was published, a further 3,700 or so applicants came forward \u2014 they were seeking priority placement.<\/p>\n The annual conscription plan for 2026 stands at around 5,000 people. It comprises 3,870 places for nine-month service, 90 for three-month service by specialists in professions required by the army, 650 under junior officer training programmes, and 450 under other programmes lasting between 90 and 120 days.<\/p>\n Director of the Military Service and Recruitment Service Ar\u016bnas Bal\u010di\u016bnas<\/strong> stated that, due to the limited number of places, not everyone who has applied will be able to serve this year.<\/p>\n This does not involve joining the professional army, but rather volunteering for compulsory initial military service. Since 1 January, an updated conscription model has been in force in the country: men are usually called up for service between the ages of 18 and 22, whilst those who have volunteered in writing may be called up up to the age of 39. For women, service remains voluntary.<\/p>\n The application allows candidates to choose their service period and unit. Those who applied before the list of conscripts was published, or who were not included on it, are entitled to payments increased by 30%; for applicants who applied after the list was published, an increase of 15% is provided for.<\/p>\n The Ministry of Defence has issued a separate appeal to school leavers and prospective students, urging them not to give up on their university applications because of expected military service. Students who are called up can take a leave of absence from their studies, complete their military service and then return to their place at university, which will be held for them.<\/p>\n The reform has also increased the expected annual intake for initial compulsory military service \u2014 from approximately 3,800\u20134,000 to over 5,000 people. Its aim is to build up the active reserve to approximately 50,000 military personnel by 2030.<\/p>\n Bal\u010di\u016bnas attributed the record number of applications to the desire of more young people to contribute to strengthening national security and to their awareness of their role in the comprehensive defence system. This is the position of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence.<\/p>\n At the same time, this figure alone does not allow us to determine exactly what was the main reason for the increase in interest. The number of applications may have been influenced by a combination of factors, including the new conscription rules, the various forms of service available, the opportunity to combine military service with education, and financial incentives for volunteers.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" More than 8,100 people have volunteered for initial military service in Lithuania. As there are only 5,000 places available, not everyone will be accepted.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433355,"featured_media":24754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"\u041f\u043e\u043d\u0430\u0434 8,1 \u0442\u0438\u0441. \u043b\u044e\u0434\u0435\u0439 \u0434\u043e\u0431\u0440\u043e\u0432\u0456\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e \u043f\u043e\u0434\u0430\u043b\u0438\u0441\u044f \u043d\u0430 \u043f\u043e\u0447\u0430\u0442\u043a\u043e\u0432\u0443 \u0432\u0456\u0439\u0441\u044c\u043a\u043e\u0432\u0443 \u0441\u043b\u0443\u0436\u0431\u0443 \u0432 \u041b\u0438\u0442\u0432\u0456. \u0427\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437 \u043f\u043b\u0430\u043d \u0443 5 \u0442\u0438\u0441. \u043c\u0456\u0441\u0446\u044c \u0432\u0456\u0437\u044c\u043c\u0443\u0442\u044c \u043d\u0435 \u0432\u0441\u0456\u0445.","rank_math_title":"\u0414\u043e\u0431\u0440\u043e\u0432\u0456\u043b\u044c\u043d\u0430 \u0441\u043b\u0443\u0436\u0431\u0430 \u0432 \u041b\u0438\u0442\u0432\u0456: \u0440\u0435\u043a\u043e\u0440\u0434\u043d\u0456 8,1 \u0442\u0438\u0441. \u0437\u0430\u044f\u0432","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u0432 \u041b\u0438\u0442\u0432\u0456","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805619],"tags":[805624],"class_list":["post-24755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-805624"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433355"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24756,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24755\/revisions\/24756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
There are more applications than there are places available<\/h2>\n
What does \u2018voluntary filing\u2019 mean?<\/h2>\n
It is suggested that the service be combined with study<\/h2>\n
The record is attributed not only to security concerns<\/h2>\n