ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading banners
NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s leading online newspaper. Published by Africa’s international award-winning journalist, Mr. Isaac Umunna, NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s first truly professional online daily newspaper. It is published from Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and media hub, and has a provision for occasional special print editions. Thanks to our vast network of sources and dedicated team of professional journalists and contributors spread across Nigeria and overseas, NEWS EXPRESS has become synonymous with newsbreaks and exclusive stories from around the world.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for foreign volunteers to be able to fight against Ukrainian forces.
Speaking at a Russian security council meeting, he said those who wanted to volunteer to fight with Russia-backed forces should be allowed to.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said there were 16,000 volunteers in the Middle East ready to fight alongside Russia-backed forces.
US officials said these could include Syrians skilled in urban combat.
Moscow is a long-standing ally of Syria and Mr Putin has been a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war.
"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," Mr Putin told his defence minister.
"Please do this," Mr Putin said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, responding in a video message, said "thugs from Syria" would be coming to kill people "in a foreign land".
Foreign fighters, including former and current British army personnel, have also been arriving in Ukraine to fight for the government in Kyiv.
Mr Zelensky said recently that 16,000 foreigners had volunteered for the cause, part of what he called an "international legion".
The televised security council meeting move came as Russian forces in Ukraine began attacking new targets in different areas of the country:
According to the Wall Street Journal, US officials have told the paper that Russia has recently been recruiting fighters from Syria, hoping their expertise in urban warfare can help take Kyiv and deal a devastating blow to the Ukraine government.
At the same time, US private security firms have been seeking to recruit former soldiers to help evacuate people from Ukraine. (BBC)
