In Romania, French battlegroup holds NATO combat exercise

By VADIM GHIRDA
Associated Press

SMARDAN, Romania (AP) — Around 600 French soldiers deployed to Romania as part of a NATO battlegroup have held a combat exercise to test the 30-nation alliance’s readiness on its eastern flank, amid the war in neighboring Ukraine. Wednesday’s drill at a military training range near Romania’s eastern town of Smardan involved some 200 military vehicles, including four French Leclerc battle tanks that fired live ammunition. In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, NATO bolstered its presence on Europe’s eastern flank, including by sending additional multinational battlegroups to alliance members Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Slovakia. This month, the alliance deployed two surveillance planes to Romania, from where they will monitor Russian military activity near NATO’s borders.