Canada’s largest Arctic military exercise in nearly two decades has ended in failure, according to a report by The New York Times.

The drills took place near the settlement of Cambridge Bay on the southern coast of Victoria Island. In mid-February, around 1,300 troops were deployed to the area-the biggest contingent sent to the region since 2007.

But the operation quickly ran into severe environmental challenges. Temperatures in the exercise zone plunged below minus 60 degrees Celsius, creating conditions that significantly hindered the troops’ ability to carry out their tasks.

Among the setbacks, soldiers were unable to bring a CH-47 Chinook helicopter out of storage. An attempt to conduct live-fire exercises using M777 howitzers also failed.

Despite the difficulties, no casualties among military personnel were reported.

Against this backdrop, Russia’s ambassador to Norway, Nikolai Korchunov, said in late February that the growing military presence of NATO countries in the Arctic-aimed at countering Russia and China-could undermine regional security and stability. He warned that tensions are likely to rise if political mechanisms continue to be replaced by military approaches, and if international law is sidelined in favor of what he described as a rules-based order.