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NATO Holding Largest Exercises In Decades As Europe Prepares For War

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The NATO military alliance confirmed Thursday that 90,000 troops will participate in its largest exercise since the Cold War to test its ability for an armed conflict with adversaries like Russia.

The so-called Steadfast Defender 2024 drills starting next week will rehearse how U.S. troops could reinforce European allies in countries bordering Russia and on NATO’s eastern flank if war breaks out, officials said.

The 90,000 troops involved in the operation will be backed by over 50 ships from aircraft carriers to destroyers, as well as over 80 fighter jets, helicopters, and drones and at least 1,100 combat vehicles, including 133 tanks and 533 infantry fighting vehicles, NATO said.

Steadfast Defender 2024 will run to late May and involve units from all 31 NATO member countries plus candidate-member Sweden, U.S. General Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told journalists.

It comes as Europe is preparing for Russian President Vladimir Putin to expand his country’s war in Ukraine and attack NATO ally countries, several officials have said in recent days.

Such an attack could happen next year, leaked documents published in German newspaper Bild revealed.

RUSSIA’S BORDERS

The outlet — which said it obtained the classified military information from the German Ministry of Defense — the country’s armed forces are gearing up for a “hybrid” Russian attack in Eastern Europe.

NATO nations near Russia’s borders fear nuclear capable Russia could potentially unleash smaller nuclear weapons or other attacks on their soil, Worthy News monitored.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, experts have feared that Russia’s enclave of Kaliningrad could become one of those flashpoints.

It is Russia’s westernmost territory, between NATO members Lithuania and Poland.

However, further away, western countries such as the Netherlands should also “be better prepared for conflict with Russia,” warned outgoing Dutch army chief Martin Wijnen in an interview late last year.

He told Dutch daily De Telegraaf (The Telegraph) that the armed forces and the general population should prepare for war.

NO HELMETS?

This does not mean “everyone will have to start wearing a helmet,” he cautioned.

But the Netherlands should follow the example of Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic states, which border Russia “and where the population is much better prepared for the idea of a war with their much larger neighbor,” he added.

NATO did not mention Russia when it announced the Steadfast Defender 2024 on Thursday.

However, its top strategic document identifies Russia as the most significant and direct threat to NATO members’ security.

“Steadfast Defender 2024 will demonstrate NATO’s ability to rapidly deploy forces from North America and other parts of the alliance to reinforce the defense of Europe,” NATO said.

The reinforcement will occur during a “simulated emerging conflict scenario with a near-peer adversary,” Cavoli told reporters in Brussels after a two-day meeting of national chiefs of defense.