SMARDAN, Romania (AP) 鈥 Around 600 French soldiers deployed as part of a NATO battlegroup in Romania held a combat exercise on Wednesday to test the 30-nation military alliance鈥檚 readiness on its eastern flank, amid Russia鈥檚 war in neighboring Ukraine.
The drill at a training range near Romania鈥檚 eastern town of Smardan involved some 200 military vehicles, including four French Leclerc battle tanks that practiced firing live ammunition.
Romania鈥檚 defense ministry said the main purpose of the exercise is to train the battlegroup 鈥渙n the rapid deployment capability and execution of a combat mission鈥 within a collective NATO defense operation.
The Leclerc tanks used Wednesday are the same model that French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday he asked his defense minister to 鈥渨ork on鈥 the possibility of sending to Ukraine. Kyiv has persistently requested tanks from its western allies to help its war efforts.
After much hesitation, that request was when Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his government would provide German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks, and would also approve requests by other countries to do the same.
In response to Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine last February, NATO bolstered its presence on Europe鈥檚 eastern flank, including by sending additional multinational battlegroups to alliance members Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Slovakia.
This month, the alliance deployed two , from where they will fly missions for several weeks to monitor Russian military activity near NATO's borders.
The AWACS aircraft, which NATO refers to as its 鈥渆yes in the sky鈥 belong to a fleet of 14 usually based in west Germany. Since the war started, AWACS have patrolled regularly over eastern Europe and the Baltic Sea region to track Russian warplanes.
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