At times, the sound of these military drills was deafening.
There were fighter jets screaming overhead, air strikes on “enemy” forces, and tracer rounds from artillery units pounding out of the barrels.
Fireballs and mushroom clouds would periodically appear far off on the landscape, followed by a sudden explosive thud several seconds later.
I was watching from the safety of a viewing platform, along with other members of the international media.
But even at that distance, the various blasts were still powerful enough to reverberate through me.
This was the fourth day of ‘Zapad-2025’ – the joint military drills Russia holds with Belarus roughly every four years.
It took place at a training ground near the city of Borisov in Belarus, 150km from the Lithuanian border.
Moscow and Minsk insist the exercises are “defensive”. In this case, they said they were gaming out how they would respond to an attack by a NATO member.
But as I watched, I couldn’t help feeling that the training aspect was only one part of it.
The other part felt like theatre – a show of strength designed to intimidate those watching across the border on Europe’s eastern flank.
The drills were smaller than previous years, most likely because Russia still needs its troops and equipment at the front in Ukraine.
But it still felt like Moscow was trying to send a message here – that despite the costs and casualties incurred fighting Kyiv, it’s still a force to be reckoned with.
For Belarus’s neighbours, these are anxious times. The last Zapad drills in 2021 were used as a springboard for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a few months later. And so this time, Poland has closed its border, and like Lithuania, it’s holding military drills of its own.
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Afterwards, I tried to catch up with some of the defence dignitaries from foreign militaries, who had been invited to observe the drills. I wanted to see what they made of the show.
“A very good demonstration,” a senior officer from Pakistan told me, declining to give his name.
“It gives us an insight of how war is being fought, with new technologies, in this part of the world.”
But what about Poland’s concerns?
“Are they right to be nervous?” I asked. “Would you be nervous if you were next door?”
“Why would I be nervous?” he replied. “Being Pakistani, I know what I’m capable of. So I shouldn’t be nervous by somebody else doing exercises.”
“So NATO has no need to worry?” I continued.
“No, I don’t think so. NATO shouldn’t be worried.”
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There were actually some representatives from NATO members among the observers.
Delegations from Hungary and Turkey are no surprise – both countries have good relations with Moscow – but a team from the United States did raise eyebrows.
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A further sign, it seems, that the Trump administration is seeking to build bridges with the Kremlin, despite the lack of progress towards a Russia-Ukraine peace deal.
Unfortunately, none of those officials would answer my questions. Wary, perhaps, of sticking their head above the parapet, as the alliance seeks to present a united front.
