Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania form a Joint Military Unit

Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania have agreed to set up joint military unit of several thousand soldiers.

Defense ministers from the three countries signed the deal on Friday.

Poland's defence ministry said the brigade would be based in the eastern Polish city of Lublin but the soldiers would remain in their home countries.

Poland and Lithuania are eager to bolster defences following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula earlier this year.

Russia sent thousands of troops to the peninsula in March, eventually forcing Ukrainian soldiers to withdraw.

Defence ministers from Ukraine, Poland and 

Lithuania formed the long-awaited military pact 
in Warsaw

Shortly afterwards, pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared their independence.

More than 3,000 people have died in fighting between Ukrainian government forces and separatists since April.

Peacekeeping role

A spokesman for the Polish defence ministry said work to form the joint unit with Ukraine and Lithuania first began in 2007, adding that it would operate under the guidance of the UN, Nato and the EU.

The unit would participate in peacekeeping missions, the spokesman added, but no details were given on any potential role in Ukraine's conflict.

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