Overview

• The joint Sapad 2025 exercise began near NATO borders and runs through September 16, with roughly 13,000 troops in Belarus and about 30,000 in Russia, according to the Bundeswehr.
• Days earlier, at least 19 Russian-origin drones entered Polish airspace, with NATO and Polish jets downing at least three and others crashing in the first recorded shoot-downs over NATO territory.
• Poland invoked NATO Article 4 and requested an emergency UN Security Council session, labeling the incursions deliberate as Belarus called them accidental and President Trump said they could have been a mistake, a claim Donald Tusk rejected.
• Germany doubled its Eurofighters over Poland from two to four and extended the mission to year-end, France is sending three Rafales, Poland closed its border to Belarus and restricted eastern airspace, and Latvia shut part of its eastern airspace for a week.
• NATO said the drills pose no immediate military threat but are under close observation, and military officials and analysts highlighted short-range drone-defense gaps that governments are now moving to address.