The U.S. has announced that is is launching the largest allied airborne drills since the Cold War in Europe as the fighting in the Ukraine increases.
Yahoo! News reports:
Nearly 5,000 soldiers from 11 NATO allies are taking part in four weeks of “simultaneous multinational airborne operations” across Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania that began in Saturday, the US army said in a statement.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
“Swift Response 15 is the largest Allied airborne training event on the continent since the end of the Cold War,” according to the statement from the US army in Grafenwohr in southern Germany.
It is designed to help allied “high-readiness forces” act as one and “demonstrate the alliance’s capacity to rapidly deploy and operate in support of maintaining a strong and secure Europe,” it said.
The statement made no reference to the crisis in Ukraine where government troops have been fighting pro-Russian separatists since April last year, which has claimed the lives of nearly 7,000 people.
While the conflict eased after a truce in February, fighting has escalated in recent days.
The fighting has stirred the highest tensions since the Cold War ended more than two decades ago as the West accuses Russia of not only arming the rebels but sending in troops to support them. Moscow denies the charges.
NATO, a 28-country alliance led by the United States, last week defended the number of military exercises it has staged as a response to “growing Russian aggression” and refuted suggestions that they were helping make war in Europe more likely.
Regardless of what NATO has said, many worry that these drills are part of a larger effort to start a potential WWIII.
PressTV says: Nearly 5-thousand soldiers from 11 NATO member states are taking part in the four week maneuver dubbed Swift Response 15. According to the US army, the simultaneous multinational airborne operations began on Saturday and will take place across Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania.
The training event is aimed at helping coordination among allied “high-readiness forces” and boosting their capacity to deploy rapidly. The growing NATO drills and deployments on Russia’s doorstep have drawn Moscow’s criticism. But the Western military alliance has defended the number of its military exercises as a response to what it calls Russian aggression against Ukraine.
