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Poland’s defence ministry has announced that the country and its allies will respond in an “appropriate manner” to upcoming joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises in Belarus. That response will include “large Polish and NATO exercises in Poland”.
Every four years, Russia holds its “Zapad” (meaning “West”) military exercises. The last such manoeuvres, held jointly with Belarus in 2021 and involving around 200,000 military personnel, were later seen by experts as part of Moscow’s preparations for its invasion of Ukraine the following year.
This year’s exercises will take place in September in Belarus, which borders Poland, and will include the training of rapid reaction forces, intelligence and logistics services.
Speaking on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky warned that this year’s Zapad manoeuvres could again be used as preparation for “new attacks” by Russia. “Where this time? I don’t know. Ukraine? Lithuania? Poland? God forbid! But we all have to be prepared,” he said.
⚡️ Zelensky warns Russia is 'preparing something' in Belarus under guise of military drills.
"This is how its new attacks usually start," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.https://t.co/oIh49856Kp
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 30, 2025
“Poland will respond to the Zapad 2025 exercises, which will be held in Belarus…in an appropriate manner on the Polish side [of the border],” Polish deputy defence minister Cezary Tomczyk told broadcaster RMF on Monday.
“We will respond to these exercises both as the Polish army and as NATO,” he added. “There will be large Polish and NATO exercises in Poland, large manoeuvres.”
“Let us also remember that last year we had the largest NATO exercises in history, which gathered about 100,000 soldiers,” said Tomczyk. “NATO is stronger than Russia.”
Polska odpowie na ćwiczenia Zapad na Białorusi w adekwatny sposób. W Polsce będą duże ćwiczenia @NATO – @CTomczyk, wiceszef @MON_GOV_PL, @ko_klub w Porannej #RozmowaRMF@Radio_RMF24 @RMF24pl @tterlikowski pic.twitter.com/GWP87zLokP
— RozmowaRMF (@Rozmowa_RMF) April 28, 2025
The Steadfast Defender 24 exercises mentioned by Tomczyk were NATO’s largest since the Cold War, involving over 90,000 troops.
Part of them were conducted in northern Poland under a drill dubbed Dragon 24. Around 20,000 troops from nine countries tested the alliance’s deterrence and defence capabilities, including around the Suwałki Gap, a strategic chokepoint between Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Russia.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has raised its defence spending to the highest relative level in NATO. Its defence budget this year will reach an estimated 4.7% of GDP.
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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Mil.ru/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY 4.0)
Agata Pyka is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a journalist and a political communication student at the University of Amsterdam. She specialises in Polish and European politics as well as investigative journalism and has previously written for Euractiv and The European Correspondent.
