Russia launches cruise missiles in Zapad 2025 military drills with Belarus

Russia has practised launching cruise missiles over the Barents Sea during joint military exercises with Belarus codenamed Zapad (West), according to Russia’s Ministry of Defence.

The neighbouring allies were wrapping up five days of war games on Tuesday in a show of force they said is designed to test their combat readiness. Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers also performed combat training missions amid heightened tensions with NATO countries after Moscow’s alleged violations of Polish and Romanian airspace.

About 7,000 soldiers, including 6,000 Belarusians, participated in the exercises held in Belarus and Russia.

The drills took place just days after Polish and NATO forces shot down drones violating Polish airspace during Russia’s biggest-ever aerial barrage against neighbouring Ukraine.

Polish airspace has been violated many times since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but never on this scale anywhere in NATO territory. Wednesday’s incident was the first time a NATO member is known to have fired shots during Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Romania on Sunday also scrambled fighter jets after a drone breached the country’s airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine.

After these incidents, the drills have unnerved some neighbouring countries, including Poland, which temporarily closed its border with Belarus as a precautionary measure.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that nuclear-capable bombers rehearsed launching cruise missiles as they flew over neutral waters of the Barents Sea, north of Scandinavia, for about four hours while being escorted by MiG-31 fighter jets.

Belarusian Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin was due to observe another part of the Zapad exercises at a training ground in Russia later on Tuesday, his ministry said.

It did not specify the nature of that element but said it would take place in “conditions as close as possible to combat”.

Belarus is a close ally of Russia and has supported its war in Ukraine although without committing its own troops to the fighting. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to station tactical nuclear missiles in Belarus.

United States military officers observed part of the Zapad exercises in Belarus on Monday, a sign of the warming relations between the US and Belarus under President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, Russian strikes in Ukraine killed two people and wounded at least nine, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.

Ivan Fedorov, head of the military administration in southeastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, said a Russian attack had killed one person and wounded nine, including a child.

The governor of the southern region of Mykolaiv, Vitaliy Kim, said Russian forces had attacked a farm there, killing a tractor driver as he worked in the field.

Hopes of reaching a truce in the conflict have dimmed since Trump held talks separately with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Putin last month.

Tensions have risen further since Poland’s and Romania’s accusations that Russia violated their airspace. Moscow has brushed off the accusations, saying neither Poland nor Romania have presented convincing evidence that the drones were Russian and calling the latter incident a “provocation” by Ukraine.