Zelensky warns Russia may mask new attack behind Belarus drills

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russia could use large-scale military exercises in Belarus this September “as cover” for aggression against a neighboring country.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a meeting on the sidelines of the international forum of the Union State of Russia and Belarus 'Great heritage - common future' in Volgograd, Russia, 29 April 2025.

EPA/ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN

Moscow and Minsk plan joint war games, known as “Zapad” (“The West”) that are expected to simulate major combat operations. The last drills of this scale in western Russia and Belarus occurred in autumn 2021—just months before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking via video link at the Three Seas Summit in Warsaw, Zelensky told leaders the exercises might presage a fresh assault.

“This is usually how they start their new attacks,” he said. “But where will it go this time? Ukraine? Lithuania? Poland? God forbid. We all have to be ready.”

Ukrainian experts have unique experience in protecting and restoring energy supply. The war has taught us a lot – not just how to recover after Russian missiles and bombs, but also how to handle cyberattacks and other threats. Ukraine has unique expertise and experience, and we… pic.twitter.com/0mNG7XhdsQ

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 29, 2025

The 2021 Zapad maneuvers involved up to 200,000 troops and spanned from Ashuluk on the Caspian Sea to Kaliningrad on the Baltic, with significant activity near Belarus’s Brest region on the Polish border.

Poland’s Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk said Warsaw and its NATO allies would respond “in an adequate manner,” including “extensive Polish and NATO drills” on Polish soil.

“NATO is stronger than Russia,” he told RMF24 radio.

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Source: RMF24, Kyiv Independent, TVP