If the fighting in Ukraine is ended with a peace deal, Ukrainian troops could be sent to help defend the EU’s eastern borders against Russia, Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said Monday.

“It would be good that a battle-tested Ukraine army, after peace has been established in Ukraine, would be ready to be present in all the countries of our frontier region, starting from the Baltic region and in Lithuania, next to German brigade and the rotating U.S. battalions,” Kubilius said in Vilnius.

That’s currently a very distant prospect as the Russian military continues a grinding and bloody advance in eastern Ukraine and Russian leader Vladimir Putin has shown no sign of being interested in a compromise that could end the flighting.

However, Ukraine has Europe’s most experienced military, which would be invaluable to other allies. Kubilius’s call comes as earlier promises to admit Ukraine into NATO wither thanks to resistance from the U.S. and other allies.

Kubilius, a former Lithuanian prime minister, stressed that any Ukrainian deployment would not undermine Germany sending an armored brigade to Lithuania, the presence of U.S. troops in the region and NATO’s Article 5 common defense provision.

“We Lithuanians, we learned in our history that it’s better to have multiple guarantees for your security,” he said, adding that NATO’s Article 5 should be buttressed by the EU’s own security provisions “with a clear mechanism how they will be implemented.”