- Deaths and repression sideline Suu Kyi's party ahead of Myanmar vote
- S. Africa offers a lesson on how not to shut down a coal plant
- China opens $71 bn 'swap facility' to boost markets
- Mets advance on Lindor grand slam, Yankees and Tigers win
- Taiwan President Lai vows to 'resist annexation' of island
- China's solar goes from supremacy to oversupply
- Asian markets track Wall St record as Hong Kong, Shanghai stabilise
- 'Denying my potential': women at Japan's top university call out gender imbalance
- China's central bank says opens up $70.6 bn in liquidity to boost market
- Zelensky on whirlwind tour of Europe ahead of US vote
- Youth facing unprecedented wave of violence, UN envoy warns
- 'A casino in every kitchen': Brazil's online gambling craze
- Nobel chemistry winner sees engineered proteins solving tough problems
- Lindor powers Mets past Phillies into NL Championship Series
- Wildlife populations plunge 73% since 1970: WWF
- 'Sleeper agent' bots on X fuel US election misinformation, study says
- Death toll rises to 109 after Haiti gang attack, official says
- Tigers beat Guardians and on brink of advancing in MLB playoffs
- Argentina MPs back Milei's veto of university funding
- Man City sink Barca in Women's Champions League as Bayern outgun Arsenal
- Greek international Baldock, 31, found dead in pool: state agency
- Florida seaside haven a ghost town as hurricane nears
- Pharrell Williams to co-chair Met Gala exploring Black dandyism
- Wall Street indices hit fresh records as Chinese shares tumble
- Taiwan's president to deliver key speech for National Day
- Sea row on the menu as ASEAN leaders meet China's Li
- Injured Kane won't start England's Nations League clash with Greece
- Discord seen as online home for renegades
- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Mozambique starts tallying votes in tense election
- Zelensky moves to court European leaders in drive for military aid
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- Rodgers rejects 'false' suggestions of role in Saleh dismissal
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Lebanon facing 'catastrophic' situation as 600,000 displaced: UN
- US warns Israel not to repeat Gaza destruction in Lebanon
- Musk's X returns in Brazil after 40-day showdown with judge
- Call her savvy? Harris unleashes unconventional media blitz
- Lucian Freud 'masterpiece' fetches £13.9 million at London sale
- SoFi Stadium to hold next two CONCACAF Nations League finals
- McIlroy and DeChambeau set for PGA-LIV 'Showdown' in Vegas
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Run blitz edges India and South Africa closer to World Cup semi-finals
- Zelensky to court European leaders in drive for military aid
- Israel captain says 'difficult' to focus on football in time of war
- Macron to host Ukraine's Zelensky after meeting Ukrainian troops
- Root says 'many more to get' after England Test runs landmark
- India pile up World Cup high to rout Sri Lanka
War in Ukraine could 'drag on for awhile' as Russia eyes Donbas: Pentagon
Russia may be repositioning some of its forces around the Ukrainian capital Kyiv to send them to the eastern Donbas region, where Ukrainian forces have been putting up fierce resistance, the Pentagon said Thursday.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also said that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has decided to keep elements of the 82nd Airborne Division in Europe for the time being along with an aircraft carrier strike group in the Mediterranean.
Russia has moved a "small number" -- perhaps 20 percent -- of its troops from around Kyiv after failing to capture the city, which continues to be targeted by Russian airstrikes, Kirby said.
"It's not exactly clear where they're going to go, for how long, and for what purpose," he said, "but we don't see any indication that they're going to be sent home."
The Pentagon spokesman said the "best assessment" is that the troops are "going to be repositioned, probably into Belarus, to be refit and resupplied and used elsewhere in Ukraine."
He noted that Russia has said it plans to "reprioritize" its operations in the Donbas area. "That could be one destination," he said.
Sergei Rudskoi, a senior Russian military leader, said last week that the first phase of the military campaign in Ukraine was over and troops would now focus on the "main goal -- the liberation of Donbas," which is already partly held by Russian proxies.
Kirby noted that the Donbas region has been fought over for eight years and the Ukrainian armed forces have been "very active" in the area.
"This could drag on for a while," he said. "It might not just be a matter of days and weeks, it could be much longer than that. It's really difficult to know."
The Pentagon spokesman said Austin had decided to keep elements of the 82nd Airborne Division in Europe and the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier strike group in the Mediterranean.
"They're not going anywhere, anytime in the immediate future," Kirby said. "We want to be able to monitor the situation on the ground and make the best and most flexible decisions in real time."
Kirby said the United States has also received indications that some Russian forces have left the area around the accident-hit Chernobyl nuclear plant.
"We gather that they are leaving to the north to go back again towards Belarus," he said, adding that it was "not necessarily being done because of health hazards or some sort of emergency or a crisis at Chernobyl."
He said he was not able to "definitively" say who was in control now of Chernobyl, the site of a 1986 nuclear accident.
B.Finley--AMWN