As Russia tensions simmer, HMS Queen Elizabeth joins NATO conducting massive war games.

As tensions with Russia simmer, thousands of NATO troops, several warships and dozens of aircraft are taking part in military exercises stretching across the Atlantic, through Europe and into the Black Sea region.

The war games, dubbed Steadfast Defender 21, are aimed at simulating the 30-nation military organization’s response to an attack on any one of its members. It will test NATO’s ability to deploy troops from America and keep supply lines open.

Approximately 1,500 members of the military special forces of the Republic of North Macedonia, the United States, Bulgaria, and Greece participate in the military activity 'Decisive Strike 21'.

Already in recent years, the United States and its allies have deployed troops and equipment in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to try to reassure those members neighbouring Russia that their partners will ride to the rescue should they come under attack.

Russia’s decision last month to send thousands of troops to the border area with Ukraine has raised concern at the military alliance, which launched one of its biggest ever defense spending initiatives after Russian troops annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

The maiden voyage of a new British aircraft carrier will seek to show allies that post-Brexit Britain is ready to defend Western interests and eager to see China respect international rules, the vessel's commander said. Soraya Ali reports.

The UK's new $4.2 billion aircraft carrier is underway on its maiden voyage, an eight-month tour that will cross through the South China Sea.

And in doing so, send a clear signal to Beijing.

Fighter jets took off from the deck of the HMS Queen Elizabeth this week in the Mediterranean, as part of NATO exercises.

Watching the drills was NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg himself.

"It sends a message of NATO's resolve and our capability and willingness to defend all allies against any threat. And it also sends a message of how NATO allies can operate together."

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