The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing U.S. officials, that Russia is recruiting Syrian mercenaries experienced in urban guerrilla warfare to fight in Ukraine. Four officials told the American newspaper that since beginning its war on Ukraine on February 24 and facing unexpected resistance, Moscow has recently started recruiting Syrian fighters to use in controlling urban areas.
Russia has been involved in the conflict in Syria since 2015 alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. An American official told the newspaper that some Syrian fighters are already in Russia preparing to join the battles in Ukraine, but no further details were provided. There are foreign fighters on both sides of the front in Ukraine.
Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, a former rebel turned Kremlin ally, has posted videos of Chechen fighters in Ukraine, claiming some have been killed in combat. On the other side of the front, tens of thousands of volunteers have traveled to Ukraine to join its forces, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, remain under Ukrainian government control, while Russia has seized the coastal city of Kherson and intensified its bombardment of urban centers across the country.
According to a report published by the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper days ago, a list of candidates included about 23,000 young men who had fought alongside Syrian government forces in militias called "Al-Bustan Association," which was affiliated with Rami Makhlouf, the cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to join the ongoing battles in Ukraine.
This comes amid reports of Russia preparing to send an additional 1,000 mercenaries to Ukraine, according to an informed intelligence official for CNN. He added that the United States believes the performance of the mercenaries already in Ukraine has been poor, as they faced tougher resistance than expected from the Ukrainians.
It is also noteworthy that the Ukrainian president has called on foreign fighters from around the world to come to his country to fight alongside the Ukrainian army, with reports indicating that some Belgian fighters are heading there.
