Russia and Belarus have concluded joint nuclear drills that began on May 19. The three-day exercise took place across both countries, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko participating via videolink.
The maneuvers featured crews scrambling into warplanes, submarines sailing from Arctic and Pacific ports, and trucks carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles across forest roads. As part of the drills, Russia delivered nuclear munitions to field storage facilities in Belarus, which served as a launchpad for Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
European nations have condemned the exercises as provocative and accused Putin of irresponsible rhetoric. The drills occurred amid tensions with European NATO members sparked by drone incursions in the Baltic, with some describing the war games as an attempt to regain military initiative by threatening armageddon.