Media reports claim that Russia and Ukraine are recruiting well-trained foreign fighters for war.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Russia is recruiting Syrian fighters experienced in urban combat as it ramped up its attack on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has asserted that 20,000 foreign fighters from more than 50 countries have travelled to Ukraine to join Kiev’s forces.
Moscow, which launched an invasion into its Eastern European neighbour on February 24, has recruited fighters from Syria hoping they can help take Kiev, four US officials told the US newspaper.
Russia entered the Syrian civil war in 2015 on the side of regime leader Bashar al Assad. The country has been mired in a conflict marked by urban combat for more than a decade.
One official told the Journal that some fighters are already in Russia readying to join the fight in Ukraine, though it was not immediately clear how many combatants have been recruited, and the sources would not provide further detail.
Foreign fighters have already entered the Ukrainian conflict on both sides.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has claimed around 20,000 foreign fighters from more than 50 countries have travelled to the country to join Kiev’s forces.
