Russia intends to begin recruiting fighters out of Libya, the Pentagon said, adding that about 20 percent of Russian forces around Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv were repositioning elsewhere.
“We have seen, over the last 24 hours, the repositioning of a small percentage of the troops… that Russia had arrayed against Kyiv. Probably in the neighborhood of 20 percent… we assess some are repositioning into Belarus,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said.
Speaking to reporters during the daily press briefing, Kirby said none of the repositioned forces went back to their home garrisons. “That’s not a small point. If the Russians are serious about de-escalation because that’s their claim, they should send them home.”
But, he was quick to point out that Russia was still carrying out air and ground strikes on Kyiv. “The air strikes have not stopped, not at all. So, Kyiv… is still very much under threat,” Kirby said.
The Pentagon official repeated previous comments that Russia appeared to be focusing on attacking the Donbas. He added that the Russian mercenary Wagner Group had deployed around 1,000 fighters to the Donbas region.
In a new development, Kirby said the Wagner Group was now looking to recruit mercenaries from Libya. The Pentagon had previously said it had indications of recruitment from Syria, but this was the first mention of Libya.
A defense official said that another new development observed was Russian troops “walking away” from the Chernobyl power station and moving into Belarus.
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine had released a statement recently saying that around 1,000 Syrian mercenaries and Hezbollah fighters were recruited to fight in Ukraine, but Lebanon’s Hezbollah denied that any of its fighters were supporting the Russian military inside of Ukraine after Kyiv accused the Iran-backed group and Syria of sending mercenaries to support Moscow’s invasion.
“No one from Hezbollah, no fighter or military expert, went to this arena or any of the arenas of these wars,” the group’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, said in televised remarks.
In recent days, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an initiative to allow “volunteers” from the Middle East to join Russian forces invading Ukraine.
Hezbollah has fighters and experts fighting alongside the Assad regime in Syria and others in Yemen to support the Houthis.
Hezbollah also has strong ties and is believed to have experts and advisors helping the Iranian proxies and militias inside Iraq.
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