Russia and the former Soviet ally Belarus have launched the “hot phase” of a three-month military exercise involving 200,000 troops, as the president of Ukraine said a full-scale war with its neighbor was possible. north.
The Russian Ministry of Defense released a video of warships and tanks opening fire and take-off fighter jets. He said troops had practiced repelling an airstrike and were testing S-400 air defense systems in Crimea annexed by Russia, Reuters reported.
The live fire drills are the culmination of the “Zapad-2021” war games that will take place until Thursday on the western flanks of Russia and Belarus, including areas close to NATO and the borders of the European Union.
Mathieu Boulegue, a researcher in Britain’s Chatham House think tank, said the first three days of the “hot phase” exercises, launched on Friday, focused on defending themselves from a Western attack, with the four days remaining dedicated to a counteroffensive.
Ukraine and NATO members Poland and Lithuania say large-scale exercises so close to the border risk being provocative.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the possibility of full-scale war with Russia was that he wanted to hold a fundraising meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to Reuters.
Asked at the Yalta European Strategy Summit about the possibility of war with Russia, which seized the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and supports pro-Russian separatists, Zelenskiy said: “I think there may be -hi “.
He added in Ukrainian: “It’s the worst that can happen, but unfortunately there is that possibility.”
Tensions between Kiev and Moscow escalated this year as fighting intensified in eastern Ukraine and Russia gathered more troops near the border.
Putin denied that military exercises were directed against any foreign power and said they were sensible given NATO’s increased activity near the borders of Russia and those of its allies.
The exercises are held every four years, but this exercise has been seen as a sign of Russia’s support for Belarus and its leader, Alexander Lukashenko, whom the West has ostracized to crack down on dissent.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the active phase of the exercises, which include 200,000 troops, 80 aircraft, 290 tanks and 15 ships, will take place in nine places in Russia and five places in Belarus.
Forces from Armenia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia were also to participate.