KYIV, Sept. 3 - Ukraine has begun joint military exercises with 10 NATO countries in western Ukraine amid ongoing tensions with Russia over Moscow's illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatists, RFE/RL reported.

The Rapid Trident 2018 drills officially opened on September 3 at the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyy National Ground Forces Academy in the western region of Lviv.