{"id":422183,"date":"2025-09-13T22:36:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T22:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/422183\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T22:36:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T22:36:19","slug":"putins-wargames-on-europes-doorstep-that-have-put-nato-on-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/422183\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin\u2019s wargames on Europe\u2019s doorstep that have put Nato on edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Major joint military drills by Russia<\/a> and Belarus \u2013 where troops practice war games on Nato\u2019s borders \u2013 have ignited fresh security concerns for member states.<\/p>\n

The main phase of Zapad-2025, described by the Russian Ministry of Defence<\/a> as a strategic exercise in \u201crepelling aggression against the Union State\u201d, started on Friday and will continue throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n

About 30,000 Belarusian<\/a> and Russian service members are taking part, with 8,000 troops carrying out drills on Belarusian soil.<\/p>\n

\"\"Baltic Fleet forces taking part in the drills (Photo: Russian Defence Ministry)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Donald Trump urged Nato members to stop purchasing oil from Russia, saying the war in Ukraine would only finish if the \u201cshocking\u201d practice ended.<\/p>\n

Posting on his Truth Social, Trump said: \u201cIf Nato does as I say, the war will end quickly, and all of those lives will be saved! If not, you are just wasting my time, and the time, energy, and money of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

He claimed the alliance\u2019s commitment to winning the war \u201chas been far less than 100%\u201d.<\/p>\n

One of Russia\u2019s largest oil-refining complexes, in the outskirts of the central city of Ufa, was hit by a Ukrainian drone attack on Saturday. <\/p>\n

In recent months, Ukraine has significantly stepped up attacks on oil refineries, sparking a domestic petrol crisis. Moscow recently banned the export of gasoline sales for September, as some Russians queue at the petrol pump.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tu-22M3 long-range bombers from the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out an air strike on mock enemy targets during the Zapad-2025 exercise (Photo: Russian Defence Ministry)<\/p>\n

In Russia, Belarus and in the Baltic Sea and the Barents Sea, troops practised \u201cat firing ranges\u201d, Russian officials said on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Videos released by the Russian Defence Ministry show patrol boats destroying mock underwater targets.<\/p>\n

Russian Navy crew were tasked with locating a \u201cmock enemy\u201d and destroying its military capabilities using DP-61 \u201cduel\u201d anti-sabotage grenade launchers.<\/p>\n

The drills \u2013 taking place close to the borders of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia \u2013 are starting just days after Poland shot down Russian attack drones<\/a> located in its airspace<\/p>\n

According to Russian state media, the war games are intended to help the military practice their response to \u201clocalised aggression\u201d against Russia and Belarus. <\/p>\n

\"\"Equipment is loaded into military transport aircraft (Photo: Russian Defence Ministry)\"\"The DP-62 Damba anti-sabotage rocket-bomb launcher shot at a mock enemy (Photo: Russian Defence Ministry)\"\"Russian military armoured vehicles were also taking part (Photo: Russian Defence Ministry) \"\"A member of the Russian Navy\u2019s PDSS, or anti-sabotage units, whose role is to protect Russian naval installations and ships from underwater sabotage (Photo: Russian Defence Ministry)<\/p>\n

But Donald Tusk, Poland\u2019s prime minister, described the military exercises as \u201cvery aggressive\u201d.<\/p>\n

He told a government meeting: \u201cOn Friday, Russian-Belarusian manoeuvres, very aggressive from a military doctrine perspective, begin in Belarus, very close to the Polish border.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tusk added: \u201cTherefore, for national security reasons, we will close the border with Belarus, including railway crossings, in connection with the Zapad manoeuvres on Thursday at midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marcin Kierwinski, Poland\u2019s interior minister, said that the border would be reopened when there was no longer a threat.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cDuring these exercises, the Russian and Belarusian armies are practising aggressive scenarios against our country. We will resume operations when we are certain that the safety of Poles is guaranteed and no provocations threaten us.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 40,000 troops have been deployed along the Polish border with Belarus and Russia, Polish officials said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Patrol boats were sent to where mock enemy targets were located (Photo: Russian Defence Ministry) \"\"A DP-61 Duel anti-sabotage grenade launcher in use (Photo: Russian Defence Ministry)\"\"Still from video showing the DP-62 Damba anti-sabotage rocket-bomb launcher (Photo: Russian Defence Ministry)<\/p>\n

The unease about the drills follows the precedent set by Zapad exercises in September 2021, which ultimately preceded Vladimir Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine<\/a> in February 2022.<\/p>\n

Tanks and heavy artillery were left parked near the border, supposedly for Zapad exercises the following year, but were actually used to fire at Ukraine. <\/p>\n

It is understood that the drills are intended to be a public display of force by the Russian military, which has suffered more than a million casualties since it started the war against Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The war games come as the Polish foreign minister was welcomed in Kyiv this week for discussions on Nato accession, shared security and increasing pressure on Moscow.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgainst the backdrop of Russia\u2019s escalation of terror against Ukraine and provocations against Poland, we stand firmly together,\u201d said Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Major joint military drills by Russia and Belarus \u2013 where troops practice war games on Nato\u2019s borders \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2993,2000,299,5187,2821,770,332,7661],"class_list":{"0":"post-422183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-defence","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-nato","13":"tag-poland","14":"tag-russia","15":"tag-russia-ukraine-war"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115199383431837098","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422183","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=422183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}