NEW YORK, September 16. /TASS/. The presence of military observers from the United States at the Zapad 2025 exercises was unexpected, The New York Times said.

Newspaper reporter Valerie Hopkins, who was present at the exercises, called the participation of American observers a remarkable turn of events amid growing tension between NATO and Russia over the incident with a UAV over the Polish territory on September 10.

The NYT also writes that the presence of the US observers may be thanks to the warming of relations between Belarus and Western countries, which deteriorated significantly in 2020.

On September 15, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said that representatives of 23 states were present at the training ground, including three from NATO countries - the United States, Turkey and Hungary.

The Belarusian-Russian Zapad 2025 exercises are taking place from September 12 to 16.

On September 12, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance was launching Operation Eastern Sentry. It was the result of consultations on article 4 of the NATO Treaty launched on September 10 at the request of Warsaw in connection with the UAV incident. On the morning of September 10, the Polish army destructed several UAVs that had invaded the country's airspace. According to the Polish authorities, 21 violations of the air borders were recorded on the night of September 10.

As stated in the Russian Defense Ministry, on the night of September 10, the Russian army attacked Ukraine’s military enterprises in the Ivano-Frankovsk, Khmelnitsky, Zhitomir Regions, as well as in Vinnitia and Lvov. "Targets for destruction in Poland were not planned." The range of the UAVs that allegedly crossed the border with Poland does not exceed 700 km. The Russian Defense Ministry said it was ready to consult with Poland on this topic.