On Sunday, Russia In the Arctic Ocean near NATO borders, images of its launch of their launch of 3m22 zircon hypersonic missiles from a frigate in Barent Sagar were released. The launch comes against the background of growing tension with the West, a few days later several Russian drones violated the airspace of Poland and Romania, a member country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Zicon Test, Zapad with Belarus is part of the joint exercise with Belarus with the aim of assessing defensive and coordination capabilities between two affiliated countries. It also works to show that Russia’s military force has not lost its strength despite heavy losses more than three years after the onset of Ukraine’s invasion.
In the video originally shared on Telegram, the crew riding on the Frigate Admiral Golovako fired Zirakon on a target in Barent Sagar, an area surrounded by the Norwegian Sea. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the target was destroyed directly into a hit from its hypersonic missile, which could reach a distance of 1,000 kilometers and travel 9 -times at the speed of sound.
Images also practice Sukoi SU-34 supersonic fighter-boorms, a two-seater fighter-bombon that can carry an armament up to eight tons and fly up to 2,485 miles (4,000 km) without any hatred (or with external tanks).
There is evidence that Russia has employed hypersonic missiles against civil goals in Ukraine, such as Zikron or Kinjhal, which is almost impossible for interception. This is not only due to their speed, but also due to their maneuver capabilities, allowing them to change the syllabus to change the syllabus to avoid defense systems (in a limited way).
Deliberately incite or accident?
This week, NATO established an international alarm due to a series of Russian drones in Polish and Romanian airspaces, a violation that was not yet recorded in the Russia-Ukraine War, at least not on this scale. On September 10, at least 19 drones from Russia invaded the Polish airspace, intercepted and shot by the fighters of NATO, with no major damage to the ground. The incident was described by the Polish government as “unprecedented violations” and a “large -scale provocative” Mark RuteGeneral Secretary of NATO.
Poland called for Article 4 of NATO Charter, which establishes a mechanism for consultation between members of NATO “to exchange ideas and information and to discuss issues before reaching and taking action.” Following this debate between member countries, he launched Operation Eastern Sentinel, which is a military initiative to strengthen a military initiative to strengthen a military initiative to strengthen the defensive currency on the eastern flank of coalition through the deployment of advanced fighters and defense systems among other measures to combat missiles and drone hazards.
The alert started again on 13 September, when Romania allegedly detected a drone from Russia in its airspace. Incidents of Russian drones in NATO airspaces created widespread international condemnation. The United States expressed support for affected countries. US State Secretary Marco Rubio said, “We consider it an unacceptable, regrettable and dangerous event.” “There is no doubt that the drones were deliberately launched. The question is whether they intended to enter Poland.” The Russian government claimed that it was not targeting Poland, while Belarus suggested that the drones were distracted by their initial trajectory.
Despite the efforts to offer clarification, the combined zapad 2025 military exercise between Russia and Belarus is very low to reduce stress in Eastern Europe. Although both nations emphasize that practice is defensive in nature, proximity to exercises for NATO limits, as well as testing of hypersonic missiles in the Arctic, raise new concerns among the Atlantic Alliance member countries.
