NATO Holds Northern Viking Drill Off Iceland Without US Forces

NATO allies completed the annual Northern Viking military exercise off the coast of Iceland in August, marking the first time in decades that the drills took place without the participation of US warships or combat aircraft, Politico reported. The multinational naval and air exercise focused on tracking and hunting Russian submarines navigating the waters around Iceland. Participating forces included German maritime surveillance aircraft, Canadian warships, and Belgian fighter jets, with operational command transferred to a French naval officer.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Allied officials designed the exercise to demonstrate to both NATO members and Moscow that European nations and Canada possess the capability to defend the continent and secure the North Atlantic without reliant US leadership. “We are seeing Europe and Canada step up, and we literally see it here in Iceland,” said Jónas Allansson, head of the Directorate for Defence at the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The United States had led Northern Viking for decades. While American combat units did not participate directly in the maneuvers, Washington did not withdraw completely from supporting defense operations in Iceland. US military construction crews continue to build new defense infrastructure at the military annex of Keflavík Airport, and US planners assisted in developing the exercise framework. Iceland occupies a critical strategic position in the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap, the primary maritime transit corridor utilized by the Russian Northern Fleet to deploy nuclear submarines from bases on the Kola Peninsula into the Atlantic Ocean. Other Topics of Interest US Envoys Witkoff and Kushner Arrive in Kyiv for First Visit US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Kyiv on Sunday, marking their first visit to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. NATO views the maritime chokepoint as vital for monitoring and controlling Russian naval access to Atlantic sea lanes. European defense readiness and rising hybrid threats The Allied naval maneuvers coincided with broader efforts across Northern Europe to test defense capabilities and civil preparedness amid heightened security concerns regarding Russia. Earlier in the week, Finland conducted Shelter 2026 in the central city of Kuopio, staging the country’s largest civil defense exercise since World War II. The drill mobilized over 2,000 participants – including military conscripts, emergency services, and local volunteers – around the Savilahden Luola underground bedrock shelter to rehearse crisis responses to simulated cyberattacks on municipal utilities and potential Russian missile strikes. The regional exercises follow recurring security alarms and suspected hybrid activities across European airspace and infrastructure. In August, a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft allegedly breached Finnish airspace over the Gulf of Finland for approximately three minutes, penetrating 8.7 kilometers into Finnish territory and prompting Helsinki to summon the Russian ambassador. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.