Germany and its NATO partners are prepared to defend every inch of the alliance's territory, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday at a military ceremony in Vilnius to mark the establishment of a German brigade in Lithuania.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has traveled to NATO partner Lithuania to inaugurate a German brigade meant to protect the alliance’s eastern flank in the face of mounting worries about Russia.

VILNIUS – Germany has inaugurated its first permanent foreign military deployment in Lithuania since World War II, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz calling it “the beginning of a new era."