 NATO began its biggest military exercises since the Cold War this week, with tens of thousands of troops set to move across Europe and a show of forcemen as a warning to Russia, following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine Operation Steadfast Defender 24 will see some 90,000 NATO military personnel take part in a range of drills across Europe in coming months. The Steadfast Defender 2024 drill, spanning the Atlantic, is scheduled to extend until the end of May.NATO said the military exercise had been planned for several years and is the largest one held by NATO since 1988. About 90,000 soldiers from 31 NATO member countries in Sweden participate, the exercise includes over 50 ships ranging from aircraft carriers to destroyers, plus over 80 fighter jets, helicopters and drones, and at least 1,100 combat vehicles, including 133 tanks and 533 infantry fighting vehicles, according to NATO. The exercises come ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The conflict has descended into a war of attrition, with neither side seemingly able to make significant territorial gains, the exercises will show that NATO can conduct and sustain complex multi-domain operations over several months, across thousands of kilometers, from the high north to central and eastern Europe, and in any condition, the 31 nation alliance said.