NATO’s biggest drill since the Cold War is a warning for Putin to stay away
In a dusty clearing in Lithuania, NATO is rolling out the big guns.
Leopard 2 tanks fire their rounds with a deafening thud, while Puma fighting vehicles add to the eerie chorus, accompanied by the buzz of helicopter blades.
The firepower on display is the crescendo of the alliance’s biggest military training exercise since the Cold War, led by the Germans and taking place a few miles from the Lithuanian border with Belarus.
The aim is to show how NATO can defend Europe’s eastern flank from invasion, offer reassurance to allies and a warning to President Putin.
“Today’s exercise sends a clear message – a message of deterrence to Russia,” said General Carsten Breuer, Germany’s chief of defence.
About 90,000 troops from 32 member states have taken part in drills as part of the Steadfast Defender exercise over the past six months on land, sea and in the air.
The NATO drills in action
And as Ukraine struggles on the real battlefield, the war games on the eastern flank have added significance.
This is NATO’s front line if the war in Ukraine were to bubble over.
The Baltic states including Lithuania say Russia is their biggest threat to security. It’s why Germany will permanently station 5,000 troops in the area in the next few years.
It’s a welcome deterrent, according to Colonel Rimantas Jarmalavicius from the Lithuanian armed forces, who has fought the Russians before.
Last time, he was a student battling the Soviet Union for his country’s independence.
“I remember perfectly the system that we lived in. I don’t want those times to come back and I don’t want my children to live in such a country as the Soviet Union,” he said.
German army serviceman in a military exercise in Pabrade, Lithuania. Pic: Reuters
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also shocked Germany into action.
This is the first year since the 1990s that the European giant has met the NATO alliance target to spend 2% of its gross domestic product on defence.
Russian aggression has made defence a priority for the government, which announced a special €100bn (£85bn) fund shortly after the war broke out.
But years of underfunding mean now Germany is against the clock to make a military short of ammunition, weapons and troops fit for war.
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“We have five to eight years when the reconstitution of Russia forces is on a level that an attack against NATO territory might be possible,” explains General Breuer.
“For me as military, five to eight years means I have to be ready in five years.”
And on the training field, Germany was keen to show it could defend its neighbours with an impressive range of weapons.
This time they were just drills, but if any NATO members come under attack the message is clear and united: there will be no playing games.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
Read more from Sky News:
Mass displacement in Gaza – people unsure where to go
Donald Trump picks vaccine sceptic as health secretary
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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