{"id":420673,"date":"2025-09-13T08:53:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T08:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/420673\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T08:53:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T08:53:12","slug":"russia-and-belarus-start-wargames-on-eu-doorstep-in-feared-invasion-rehearsal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/420673\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia and Belarus start wargames on EU doorstep in feared invasion rehearsal"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Europe reels from the unprecedented drone intrusion last week, the \u201cZapad\u201d or \u201cWest\u201d 2025 drills are set to take place in Russia and Belarus until Tuesday, September 16\" Russian Armed Forces taking part in the Zapad-2025 (West-2025) joint military drills(Image: Russian Defence Ministry\/AFP via)<\/p>\n

A major military presence is being deployed on NATO\u2019s eastern flank as Russia<\/a> and Belarus<\/a> launch a major joint military operation.<\/p>\n

As Europe reels from the unprecedented drone <\/a>intrusion last week, the \u201cZapad\u201d or \u201cWest\u201d 2025 drills are set to take place in Russia and Belarus from Friday until Tuesday, September 16.<\/p>\n

The exercises are set to cover Russian land territory as well as areas of the Baltic and Barents sea, Moscow\u2019s Defence Ministry has said. Part of the drills will see troops \u201cplanning the use of\u201d nuclear weapons and the new nuclear-capable Oreshnik ballistic missiles that Russia has said it will station in Belarus.<\/p>\n

It comes against a backdrop of increased tensions between Russian and the West, with Donald Trump<\/a> saying his patience with Vladimir Putin<\/a> was \u201cwearing out fast\u201d and hinting at tough sanctions over the Ukraine<\/a> war.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe “Zapad-2021” joint military drills preceeded the invasion of Ukraine(Image: Russian Defence Ministry\/AFP via)READ MORE: Foreign Office changes Poland tourist travel advice after Russia drone strike<\/a>READ MORE: Yvette Cooper gives powerful message to Zelensky in Kyiv after Putin strikes<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Europe leaders fear that a recent incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace could trigger a wider conflict along the region\u2019s eastern border. Leaders have described the move as a deliberate provocation while Russian military sources have said it wasn\u2019t targeting Poland while Belarus suggested drones veered off course.<\/p>\n

The incident marked the first time that NATO allies were to confront a potential threat in their airspace since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The intrusion could have been a test of NATO\u2019s readiness for a potential air incursion ahead of the planned drills, analysts said.<\/p>\n

Security has been ramped up in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia with Poland ordering its border with Belarus to be completely closed during the exercises.<\/p>\n

Some in Europe fear the military exercises could be a rehearsal for an invasion of Europe, following the massive buildup of troops in the 2021 “exercise” that led to the invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\"ImagesImages from the Zapad-2025 (West-2025) drills(Image: Russian Defence Ministry\/AFP via)<\/p>\n

Barbed wire and barricades were pulled across roads on the Polish border as Prime Minister Donald Tusk sent 40,000 troops to the region as he warned of ‘critical days’ ahead. Poland was closer to \u201copen conflict\u201d than at any time since World War II, he warned, following the drone incursion.<\/p>\n

The Zapad-2021 drills became an excuse for the Russian government to deploy 200,000 troops to the Ukrainian border, before launching an invasion of the neighbouring country. This time the Russian units are though to be simulating an occupation of the Suwalki corridor, considered a vulnerability for NATO, Tusk said.<\/p>\n

A Kremlin spokesman played down concerns this year. Dmitry Peskov said Thursday the drills are \u201cplanned exercises\u201d and \u201cnot aimed against anyone\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe objectives of the drills are to improve the skills of commanders and staffs, the level of co-operation and field training of regional and coalition groupings of troops,\u201d the Russian defence ministry posted on Telegram.<\/p>\n

But Polish president Tusk has blasted the \u201cvery aggressive\u201d Zapad manoeuvres and announced that Poland would close its border.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision to close the border \u2026 is a response to very specific aggressive military exercises against Poland that are starting in Belarus,” Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing this for the safety of our citizens. Russia has been behaving aggressively towards Poland in recent days and for many years \u2026 towards the entire civilised world<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

However this year\u2019s exercise is expected to be smaller than the 2021 manoeuvres that preceded the invasion of Ukraine. Minsk has said that just 13,000 troops would be involved, later announcing that number could be reduced by half.<\/p>\n

The exercises would involve Russia’s new experimental nuclear-capable missile, dubbed Oreshnik, as well as nuclear strike training, Belarussian officials confirmed.<\/p>\n

Poland and its allies planned to hold their own counter-drills through September in a move that analysts have said is reminiscent of the Cold War.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Europe reels from the unprecedented drone intrusion last week, the \u201cZapad\u201d or \u201cWest\u201d 2025 drills are set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[14787,7667,32,5898,2000,299,5187,1699,2821,333],"class_list":{"0":"post-420673","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-cold-war","9":"tag-dmitry-peskov","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-donald-tusk","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-european","15":"tag-european-union","16":"tag-nato","17":"tag-vladimir-putin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}