Russia is attempting to recruit Syrians to fight in Ukraine as its invasion stalls, the Pentagon has claimed.
US defence officials told The Wall Street Journal that Russia was seeking Syrians who had experience in urban combat and would offer up to $300 a month for those wishing to fight.
The Russian Army has faced a fierce resistance in Ukraine despite Vladimir Putin’s belief that a “lightning” military campaign could bring the country under his control in just two weeks. However, Kyiv and other major cities remain under Ukrainian control and Russian military losses have been significant.
“The accounts of the Russians seeking Syrian fighters, to augment their forces in Ukraine, we do believe there’s truth to that,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday. “It’s interesting that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin would have to rely on foreign fighters”.
Syrian news website DeirEzzor24 claimed that Moscow was seeking volunteers to act as “guards” and would be offered a six-month contract of between $200 and $300 a month.
A US defence official said that it was not clear how many Syrians that Mr Putin was attempting to recruit, but that they “find it noteworthy that he believes he needs to rely on foreign fighters”.
They told reporters that the Kremlin had already committed the majority of its 150,000 troops amassed on the Ukrainian border since the beginning of the invasion last month.
Mr Putin has already sent battle-hardened soldiers from Chechnya into Ukraine to reinforce his invasion. Ukrainian authorities said that an assassination attempt by an elite Chechen squad on President Volodymyr Zelensky had been thwarted last week.
Syrian fighters have significant urban combat experience, having fought a brutal civil war for nearly a decade.
Charles Lister, a Syria expert at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said the introduction of Syrian fighters into the war was unlikely to prove successful.
He told the Journal: “Bringing Syrians into Ukraine is like bringing Martians to fight on the moon. They don’t speak the language, the environment is totally different.”
Addressing Ukrainians from his office on Monday night, Mr Zelensky vowed that his country would rebuild after repelling the Russian invasion.
“There will be no trace of the enemy,” he said. “We will make our cities destroyed by the invader better than any city in Russia.”
