Eurasia

Beijing has “successfully completed” weeklong exercises around Taiwan, though additional military activity in the region can be expected, a Chinese military official announced Wednesday. China plans to continue “military training and preparations,” organize patrols in the Taiwan Strait and “resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Eastern Theater Command spokesman …

The Pentagon has warned Iran not to provide armed drones to Russia for use in Ukraine. Russian officials have received training on Iranian military drones in Iran in recent weeks, a US official confirmed to Al-Monitor. US intelligence believes the training is part of a recent agreement between Tehran and …

Gas payments in rubles will help Turkey reduce its foreign-currency demand. The economic outcomes of the recent Turkish-Russian summit and a string of financial moves by the Russian builder of a nuclear power plant in Turkey have come as fresh signs that Turkey is becoming a safe harbor for sanctions-hit …

The Federal Bureau of Investigation says the Iranian regime and “its terrorist partners” aren’t just a threat to the Middle East, but also a critical risk for the United States. In a number of tweets on Monday, the FBI said Iran and its proxy groups “don’t just endanger the Middle …

Amid the military standoff in the Taiwan Strait triggered by the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan last week, the US is planning to send warships through the Taiwan Strait “in the coming days,” the publication of the United States Naval Institute reported Tuesday. On Monday, the …

Sanctions against Russian financial operations leave Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia without fuel. On Tuesday, the Russian pipeline operator Transneft reported that the Ukrainian company UkrTransNafta stopped pumping Russian crude through the southern branch of the Russian Druzhba pipeline, which supplies three European countries. The Ukrainian company acknowledged that …

A Turkish drone strike Tuesday killed at least four people in a northeast Syrian city held by Kurdish forces, the latest in a flurry of attacks, a war monitor said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack struck near a hospital in Qamishli, the de-facto capital of …

Russia is believed to have had 70,000 to 80,000 troops killed or wounded in fighting since it invaded Ukraine in February, a top Pentagon official confirmed Monday. The figure, which has not previously been made public, may not be precise but is “in the ballpark” as Russia remains locked in …

The Pentagon announced its latest drawdown package for Ukraine on Aug. 8, valued at $1 billion and mainly comprising munitions for key systems. But any decision on whether to provide the Ukrainian Air Force with Western combat jets is still to be made, a key Defense Department official told reporters—and …

U.S. warships will continue to make Taiwan Strait transits and perform freedom of navigation operations in the Indo-Pacific despite the recent Chinese live fire drills, the undersecretary of defense for policy told reporters Monday. The U.S. Navy is expected to conduct some freedom of navigation operations in the region in …