VILNIUS, Lithuania — Ten NATO nations kicked off the Tobruq Legacy multinational aerial exercises this week over the skies of Lithuania, Poland, and Germany, aiming to practice defending NATO’s most vulnerable region from a Russian air attack.

“This is the flank of NATO where the adversary has absolute superiority in the air,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis told the Washington Examiner at the Defense Ministry in Vilnius Thursday, emphasizing the importance of aerial defense exercises as a deterrent signal to Russia.

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