Russia’s military is trying to compel Syrian guerillas to fight in Ukraine by offering them between $200 and $300, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The outlet reports:

An American assessment indicates that Russia, which has been operating inside Syria since 2015, has in recent days been recruiting fighters from there, hoping their expertise in urban combat can help take Kyiv and deal a devastating blow to the Ukraine government, according to four American officials. The move points to a potential escalation of fighting in Ukraine, experts said.

“The Russia deployment of foreign fighters from Syria into Ukraine internationalizes the Ukraine war, and therefore could link the war in Ukraine to broader cross regional dynamics, particularly in the Middle East,” said Jennifer Cafarella, national security fellow at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C., to the Journal.

If Vladimir needs quasi-mercenaries from Syria to do the job they are not capable of doing on their own, it's not going well for them.https://t.co/4gD3JZn95k

— Adam B. Bear (@democraticbear) March 7, 2022

Reuters reports that Russia has also sent fighters from Chechnya to do their bidding in Ukraine.

“The president (Putin) took the right decision and we will carry out his orders under any circumstances,” said Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechnya region. He said Chechen troops deployed to Ukraine have suffered no casualties, not even a “runny nose.”

Meanwhile, foreigners have flocked to Ukraine to offer their assistance to the resistance movement. “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that 16,000 foreigners have volunteered to fight for Ukraine, part of what he described as an “international legion,” according to the Journal.

“A lot of veterans, we have a calling to serve, and we trained our whole career for this kind of war,” a former Marine tells @David_Philipps on his way to volunteer in Ukraine. Vets say this war, unlike Iraq & Afgh, "has a clear good and bad side." https://t.co/1nKFmkqBQ1

— Ellen Barry (@EllenBarryNYT) March 5, 2022

Those foreign fighters include a number of Americans. The New York Times explains:

All across the United States, small groups of military veterans are gathering, planning and getting passports in order. After years of serving in smoldering occupations, trying to spread democracy in places that had only a tepid interest in it, many are hungry for what they see as a righteous fight to defend freedom against an autocratic aggressor with a conventional and target-rich army.

“It’s a conflict that has a clear good and bad side, and maybe that stands apart from other recent conflicts,” said David Ribardo, a former Army officer who now owns a property management business in Allentown, Pa. “A lot of us are watching what is happening and just want to grab a rifle and go over there.”