Russian fighter jets and bombers hold training exercise near Kaliningrad

Russian Su-30SM2 fighter jets and Su-24M bombers took part in a training exercise near the Kaliningrad region, Russia's Defense Ministry reported, as cited by the state news agency TASS. According to the ministry, pilots surveyed the designated area, flew to assigned sectors and carried out precision bombing runs against full-scale ground targets using OFAB-250ShN high-explosive fragmentation bombs.

Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, bordered by NATO members Poland and Lithuania, and hosts a significant concentration of Russian military assets. Moscow regularly reports training exercises in the region, which it describes as routine preparedness activity for its armed forces.

TASS, which is state-owned, did not report independent verification of the exercise beyond the Defense Ministry's account. No independent confirmation of the drill's scale or exact timing was immediately available from other sources.

Russia has periodically conducted military exercises near Kaliningrad and in the wider Baltic region in recent years, moves that neighboring NATO states have at times characterized as demonstrations of force amid heightened tensions following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.