NATO conducts 'Dragon 24' exercise in Poland

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Troops from 10 NATO member countries took part in an operational and tactical level multinational exercise in Poland as part of the alliance's largest military exercise in decades.

Soldiers from France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Türkiye, the UK and the US conducted a crossing of the Vistula River near Korzeniewo, Poland on March 4-5, NATO said in a statement Wednesday.

Polish President Andrzej Duda and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda attended the Dragon 24 exercise, which was conducted as part of Steadfast Defender 24.

A series of exercises are taking place under the umbrella of Steadfast Defender 24, which will include 90,000 troops in total from all NATO Allies and Sweden.

Sweden will officially become a NATO member next week during a ceremony that will take place at NATO's headquarters in Brussels, according to media reports.

The military alliance said that Steadfast Defender 24 is based on its latest defense plans and demonstrates its ability to deploy forces rapidly from North America and other parts of the Alliance to reinforce the defense of Europe.