Anakonda-23 NATO military exercises begin in Poland

Roughly 13,000 Polish servicemen are reportedly taking part in the joint exercise between Poland and NATO Allies, taking place in southeastern Poland, with military drills kicking off on May 6, Polskie Radio reported.

The military drill occurs once every three years and will focus on defense and deterrence measures in the Baltic Sea region. The exercise will last until May 26.

Representatives of the U.S., Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, France, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Turkey are participating in the Anakonda-23 exercises and the coordinated Defender-23 and Aurora 23 exercises, which will take place outside Poland.

M1A1 Abrams tanks, Krabs, and K9 self-propelled howitzers, as well as Norwegian NSM anti-ship missiles, will be used during the exercises.

Preparations for the Anakonda exercises began back in 2021, but Russia's full-scale invasion reportedly posed new challenges to NATO partners who had to introduce a change in maneuvers, according to Radio Svoboda.

Trained in the heat of battle: The journey of Kharkiv Oblast’s Territorial Defense

Editor’s Note: Some of the soldiers interviewed in this piece declined to give their last names for security reasons or because they had relatives in occupied territory, and are identified by first names and callsigns instead. KHARKIV OBLAST – At an undisclosed part of the front line in Ukraine’s

Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell