All Russian troops leave Belarus after military exercises without provocations, Kyiv says
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Russia withdrew its troops from Belarus following the Zapad-2025 military exercises, State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andrii Demchenko said on Sept. 22.
The exercises took place between Sept. 12 and 16 across 41 training grounds in Belarus and western Russia.
The Zapad maneuvers, which the Kremlin said involved about 100,000 military personnel, remained a source of tension for NATO's eastern flank.
Speaking on television, Demchenko said that no hostile activity was observed near the Ukrainian border either during or after the drills. All training sites were located deep within Belarusian territory.
"(Ukrainian) border groups, intelligence units, the Defense Ministry, and the State Border Guard Service actively monitored the situation in Belarus to clearly understand how it is developing," the spokesperson said.
"We wanted to ensure they wouldn’t attempt to create any provocations near our border."
The Zapad drills, held every four years, officially focus on defensive operations but have long raised concerns in Europe. As the drills began, Poland closed all border crossings with Belarus until further notice.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 16 visited the Mulino training ground in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod Oblast to inspect the drills and review over 400 samples of military equipment.
Following the Zapad-2021 maneuvers, Russia and Belarus conducted the "Union Resolve-2022" drills, which immediately preceded Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russian forces stationed in Belarus after these exercises took part in the invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
Belarus's Defense Ministry said on Sept. 15 that observers from three NATO members — the U.S., Turkey, and Hungary — attended part of Zapad-2025 at a training ground.
Western officials warned that despite Minsk's assurances, the drills remain a means of exerting pressure on NATO's eastern flank.
