Russia has just wrapped up hosting mass military drills involving troops and defense technology from eight countries which state media hailed as applying lessons learned from the Ukraine war.
The Tsentr-2026, or Centre-2026, drills ran throughout all last week into Saturday, located in the central western Chelyabinsk region, which is situated in the southern Ural Mountains - with on Friday President Putin being on hand to observe the exercise.
Dronies deployed during military drills in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Getty ImagesImportantly, China's military took part, in addition to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan and Tajikistan.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said of what were primarily strategic command-and-staff exercises that they "applied" combat lessons from the Ukraine war to "repel external aggression in the Central Asian direction."
Over 47,000 troops from across the different countries' militaries took part at the Chebarkul training ground, in drills that further featured rehearsal for long-distance deployment and joint operational planning as well as launching operations against an entrenched enemy.
China Central Television (CCTV) indicated that the PLA troops came from the Central Theater Command, including members of the 82nd Group Army and a combined-arms brigade.
Chinese regional sources further noted the PLA rolled out unmanned systems and practiced launching drone swarms:
The PLA Daily said t
