Russia invasion fears prompt evacuation plan in major European city home to 540,000 people

By Richard Ashmore, Senior News Reporter

An evacuation plan has be drawn up for Vilnius in Lithuania (Image: Getty )

The mayor of a major European city has revealed plans are being finalised to evacuate the entire population in the event of Vladimir Putin launching an invasion. Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, is just 60 miles from the border with Russian territory, and it's feared the Kremlin war machine may target the country after the invasion of Ukraine.

Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas unveiled the evacuation plans this week, which identified 150 routes for the roughly 540,000 residents of the city to take in the event of an attack by Moscow. Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported that citizens would be told to evacuate via SMS warnings to their mobile devices and the sounds of sirens. A dedicated evacuation app is also being developed. Mayor Benkunskas said the plans were a last resort should the military defence of the city fall, and told Lithuanian media the public should not "panic" about the proposals.

Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas has drawn up mass evacuation plans (Image: Getty )

He added it would take two to three days to evacuate the entire population of Vilnius.

Speaking to LRT, Vilnius City Council member and defence expert Aurimas Navys said it was vital to forward plan for the worst case scenario.

He said: "People need to make this decision now, not when it’s time to leave their homes. You have to ask yourself: will I need assistance, will I go on my own, or even on foot, if that’s your thing?”

Retired military officer Major Darius Antanaitis added: “What’s important is that an assessment has been done – now the municipality knows what’s needed for evacuation. That, I think, is critical."

NATO have been carrying out exercises in Lithuania close to the Russian border (Image: Getty )

Lithuania is vulnerable to Russia attack as, like Ukraine, it also shares a land border with Putin's closest regional ally, Belarus.

Alexander Lukashenko, the leader of Belarus, allowed Russian special forces to use his country as a staging post to launch a failed attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in February 2022.

The Belarus border is just 30 miles away from Vilnius, and Lithuania is made more vulnerable because it also borders Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea between Lithuania and Poland.

The small piece of land separating Kaliningrad from Belarus is known as the Suwałki gap, and it has been identified by NATO military analysts as a potential weak spot in the Western alliance's eastern defences against Russia.