Russia is recruiting Syrians and other foreign fighters to fight in Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Monday. US Department of Defense officials said that Russian President was on a recruiting mission seeking to bring some of those fighters into the fray in Ukraine.
According to the Wall Street Journal, US officials allege that Russia has recently recruited fighters from Syria, hoping to take control of Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine. One of the officials told the daily that some fighters are already in Russia and preparing to join the ongoing fight in Ukraine.
“We do believe that the accounts of them (the Russians) seeking Syrian fighters to augment their forces in Ukraine, we believe there’s truth to that,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba claims approximately 20,000 foreign volunteers have been recruited for Kyiv’s military.
Since the start of this conflict, 1.7 million people have fled Ukraine in what the United Nations has called Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II.
