The exercises, in which about 600 French soldiers participated, took place at a military base near the town of Samardan, in eastern Romania, and about 200 military vehicles, including four French Leclerc combat tanks, used live ammunition tactics.
Hundreds of French soldiers, who were deployed in a NATO offensive formation in Romania, carried out combat exercises today, Wednesday, to test the readiness of the eastern wing of the 30-country military alliance.
The exercises, in which about 600 French soldiers participated, took place at a military base near the town of Samardan, in eastern Romania, and about 200 military vehicles, including four French Leclerc combat tanks, used live ammunition tactics.
The Romanian Ministry of Defense stated that the main objective of the exercises is to enable the military formations of “NATO” to “rapidly deploy and carry out combat missions” within the process of a collective defensive operation of the “NATO” forces.
The Leclerc heavy combat tanks that were used in the exercises are the same ones that French President Emmanuel Macron spoke about last Sunday, and he said that he had asked the Minister of Armies to “work” on a study of handing them over to Ukraine in order to support it in the war against Russia, at a time when Kiev was still demanding its allies. Westerners provided tanks, especially German “Leopard 2” tanks.
Germany, after much hesitation, announced its agreement to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a statement: “The decision comes as a continuation of our well-known support to Ukraine as much as we can. We are moving in a closely coordinated manner at the international level.”
The German decision came after US officials announced that they had reached a preliminary agreement to send American M1 Abrams tanks to help Kiev confront Russian forces, nearly a year after it invaded Ukraine.
On the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO worked to strengthen its defense capabilities in the eastern part of Europe, and sent additional combat groups to Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia. The alliance also strengthened its air force in those countries and the Baltic states, including combat aircraft and surveillance aircraft. and transport aircraft.
As part of NATO’s efforts to monitor Russian military activity, it deployed earlier this month in Romania surveillance aircraft equipped with the Airborne Warning and Surveillance System, and these aircraft belong to a squadron of 14 NATO surveillance aircraft that are often in Germany.
It should be noted that about two weeks ago, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said: “As Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine continues to threaten peace and security in Europe, there should be no doubt about NATO’s determination to protect every inch of its territory.” Allies and their defense, adding that “airborne surveillance and alert system can identify aircraft hundreds of kilometers away, which makes it one of the main capabilities in NATO’s deterrence force and defense position,” as she put it.
