Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling for foreigners to volunteer to fight with Russia against Ukraine.
According to BBC News, Putin told the Russian security council that anyone who wanted to volunteer to fight with the Russian military in Ukraine should be accepted.
The Russian Defense Ministry put the number of volunteers from the Middle East interested in fighting for Russian forces at 16,000. It is thought that these would include Syrians who have experience fighting in urban areas.
"If you see that there are these people who want of their own accord, not for money, to come to help the people living in Donbas, then we need to give them what they want and help them get to the conflict zone," Putin said to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Shoigu also suggested giving captured Western anti-tank missile systems to rebel groups in breakaway Ukrainian areas of the Donbas region that are supported by Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video message described the Russian volunteers from the Middle East as “thugs from Syria” who were coming to kill Ukrainians in a “foreign land.”
At least 16,000 foreign volunteers have also arrived in Ukraine to fight against Russian forces, Zelenskyy said, calling them an “international legion.”