{"id":1571211,"date":"2025-09-11T13:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1571211"},"modified":"2025-09-11T13:15:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:15:00","slug":"russia-belarus-kick-off-war-games-near-polish-border-as-nato-tensions-soar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/russia-belarus-kick-off-war-games-near-polish-border-as-nato-tensions-soar\/1571211\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia-Belarus Kick Off War Games Near Polish Border As NATO Tensions Soar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russia-Belarus Kick Off War Games Near Polish Border As NATO Tensions Soar<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Given the last 48 hours of extreme tensions between Russia and NATO after Poland said it shot down Russian drones which breached its airspace coming over from Ukraine, causing NATO assets to go on high alert, Moscow is now taking great pains to warn the West that its newest military drills must not be seen as a threat and provocation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Zapad-2025 drills will kick off Friday and run through September 16, held in Belarus and involving wide-ranging drills between the Russian and Belarusian militaries.\u00a0Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing Thursday that the drills are not aimed at any third country<\/strong>. His words come as Poland is alleging Russian intentionally sent waves of drones into its airspace.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

“There indeed are going to be drills. They are routine drills, not aimed against anyone else. It\u2019s about a continuation of defense cooperation and efforts to improve interaction between two strategic allies,” Peskov said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He further said that Russia’s intent with these exercises “is absolutely no secret to anyone”<\/strong> – and “I would like to reiterate that none of these actions is directed toward third countries<\/strong>,” he added.<\/p>\n

The drills will kick off as tensions with NATO are at their highest. BBC reviews of the avalanche of condemnations directed at Moscow coming in<\/a>:<\/p>\n

UK PM\u00a0Keir Starmer\u00a0called it a “barbaric attack on Ukraine and the\u00a0egregious and unprecedented violation of Polish and Nato airspace\u00a0by Russian drones”<\/em>
\n\tUS President Donald Trump\u00a0wrote on Truth Social: “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!”.\u00a0Our reporter at the White House says Trump’s frustration with Putin is evident<\/em>
\n\tNato Secretary General Mark Rutte\u00a0condemned Russia’s “reckless behavour”\u00a0and said Nato allies stood in solidarity with Poland and Ukraine<\/em>
\n\tDefence ministers\u00a0from the E5 group of nations –\u00a0Italy, Germany, France, Poland and UK\u00a0–\u00a0held a press conference in London, and condemned the incident, during which the\u00a0UK’s Defense Minister John Healey\u00a0said he has\u00a0asked the British armed forces to “look at options to bolster” Nato’s air defence\u00a0over Poland<\/em>
\n\tCanada’s PM\u00a0Mark Carney and\u00a0French President\u00a0Emmanuel Macron also decried the “reckless and escalatory”, with Carney saying it was proof that Putin has “total disregard for the path of peace”<\/em><\/p>\n

During the alleged drone breach, airports in Poland were briefly closed, including Warsaw’s main international airport, and NATO and Polish aerial assets were scrambled. In at least one instance a Polish couple said a drone crashed into their house.<\/p>\n

The Zapad drills have of late been happening every two years, and this year it is expected to comprise\u00a0nuclear weapons and Russian-made hypersonic missiles<\/strong>. Anti-sabotage warfare will also be a focus.<\/p>\n

All of the drones shown in Poland have been Gerberas decoy drones.<\/p>\n

Damage to a single residential building, no indication it was a drone strike though. pic.twitter.com\/fWLTnm51tz<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ayden (@squatsons) September 10, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Poland will actually host drills which mirror the Belarus-hosted war games, holding\u00a0Iron Defender-25\u00a0<\/strong>joint military exercise with NATO, including an estimated 34,000 troops and 600 units of military hardware.<\/p>\n

Poland has also sealed its border with Belarus during this time.\u00a0Earlier this month, Warsaw warned of “special measures” in response to potential “provocations” during the upcoming joint exercises.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nThu, 09\/11\/2025 – 09:15<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/russia-belarus-kick-war-games-near-polish-border-nato-tensions-soar-not-aimed-3rd<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russia-Belarus Kick Off War Games Near Polish Border As NATO Tensions Soar Given the last 48 hours of extreme tensions between Russia and NATO after…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1571212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1571211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1571211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1571212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1571211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1571211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1571211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}