Overview
- The multinational exercise begins Monday and runs through November 22 with about 2,800 troops from 11 countries operating in Poland, Romania’s airspace and the western Black Sea.
- France and the United Kingdom are the lead contributors, with France sending roughly 1,000 soldiers and the UK about 300 personnel plus several combat jets.
- Germany is taking a limited role by providing around ten staff officers, logistical support for troop moves and up to two A400M transport aircraft for air refuelling.
- Planned activities include moving troops and supplies, practicing how combat jets could secure reopened Ukrainian airspace, and Turkish forces training in mine clearance to help reopen ports.
- Moscow has publicly condemned the force and warned that any foreign military presence inside Ukraine would be treated as a de facto intervention and legitimate target, making the exercise both a readiness test and a political signal.