Russia claimed that it destroyed several air defense systems in Ukraine over the weekend, in what appeared to be a renewed push to gain air superiority.
The bulk of the Ukrainian army is concentrated in eastern Ukraine, where it has been locked up in fighting with Moscow-backed separatists in a nearly eight-year conflict.
Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth suggested that American allies in the Indo-Pacific would be following the events in Ukraine closely to see what lessons can be applied in their own planning.
Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged strategic port city.
The exercise comes at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has intensified worries about what could happen in East Asia, where China’s growing assertiveness has escalated tension around Taiwan.