About 300 Syrian soldiers arrived in Russia for training before being sent to the invasion in Ukraine

A military unit of the Syrian Army with around 300 soldiers arrived in Russia this Thursday from Syria for military training before being sent to Ukraine, a recruiter explained on condition of anonymity, as reported by the newspaper 'The New York Times'.

According to this source, the Russians want to recruit 16,000 Syrians for war in Ukraine with specific age and weight conditions — men between 20 and 45 years old weighing 50 to 90 kilos — giving preference to those who have combat experience.

In addition, they would receive a salary of between $1,000 and $2,000 a month and, if they died at the front, they would have been promised that their families would receive $2,800, plus $600 a month for a year.

The 300 soldiers already in Russia represent the 25th Division of the Syrian Army, known as the Tiger Forces, who consider themselves the elite and will work closely with the Russian Army on the offensive against Ukraine.

In recent years, as a result of the war, Syria has become an exporter of mercenaries. They are sent to hot spots in Libya, Azerbaijan, the Central African Republic and now to Ukraine.

TROOP MOVEMENT

Russian troops have so far abandoned the occupation of Kiev and are now concentrating on the assault on the port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, according to a report issued this morning by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

“The enemy, who has suffered significant losses in personnel and equipment, failed to block and capture the city of Kiev. The occupiers were forced to temporarily abandon this task,” says the part of the Ukrainian army, published at the end of the thirty-sixth day of Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian army “focused on continuing the assault on the city of Mariupol,” says the statement, which states that Moscow is using troops transferred from Abkhazia, one of the self-proclaimed independent republics in Georgia and whose independence Russia recognizes.

The city is being defended by “the forces of the 36th marines brigade, together with units of other components of the Ukrainian defense forces”.

On Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will try to provide emergency aid and medicines to Mariupol, as well as to participate in the evacuation of civilians trapped in the besieged city, where, according to Ukraine, some 160,000 people remain without water, electricity or medicine.

The Ukrainian side further says that Russia “continues to strengthen groups of troops at the expense of units of the Eastern Military District. It is trying to form occupation administrations within the temporarily occupied districts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces.”

(With information from Europa Press)

KEEP READING: