Vladimir Putin is recruiting foreign fighters from the Middle East in order to aid his invasion of Ukraine.

In a meeting with his cabinet, the Russian President revealed foreign soldiers will now be recruited to enter the combat zone as the invasion continues to stall.

Some 16,000 volunteers have now joined the fight to invade Ukraine, defence minister Sergei Shoigu said during the meeting with Mr Putin and other ranking officials.

The majority of the fighters have been sent from the Middle East, with Mr Putin claiming the soldiers are coming to defend people in the Donbas region.

“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 said.

“As to the delivery of arms, especially western-made ones which have fallen into the hands of the Russian army, of course I support the possibility of giving these to the military units of the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics.”

The defence minister also said western-made missiles captured by Russian soldiers should be handed to forces in the Donbas in order to bolster their supply of weapons.

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A separate video, from television channel Zvezda, showed military members holding Syrian and Russian flags as they allegedly prepared to be sent to Ukraine.

Foreign fighters including former and current British army personnel, have also left for Ukraine in order to help defend the state against the Russian invasion.

Earlier this month, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said up to 16,000 had answered the country’s call to arms.

While up to 16,000 have entered the country, it is estimated 2.5 million people have fled due to the conflict.

This comes as Russia attacked airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk in the west of the country, and also launched an airstrike on Dnipro in the east, killing one person.