The U.S.-sponsored Defender Europe 2022 exercise has begun in Poland. Poland is among nine countries hosting the Defender Europe (DE22) and Swift Response 2022 (SR22), large-scale U.S. Army-led, multinational, joint military exercises held from May 1-27, the Polish press agency PAP reports the Defense Ministry saying in a statement on May 1. “A total of 18,000 troops from over 20 countries will take part in the drills ... including about 7,000 on the territory of Poland,” the statement said. DE22 and SR 22 belong to “a series of cyclical defensive training drills, they are not aimed against any country and are not related to the current geopolitical situation in the region,” it added.