Russian President Vladimir Putin has drafted Syrian barrel bomb specialists to Russia, aiding his bloody war in Ukraine.
European intelligence officers told the Guardian that more than 50 specialists have been in Russia for several weeks working alongside officials from Putin’s army to potentially prepare for a similar brutal campaign in the Ukraine war.
Barrel bombs are deadly weapons fashioned out of oil barrels, fuel tanks or gas cylinders which are packed with explosives, fuel, and metal fragments and dropped from helicopters and planes.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights revealed that the Syrian regime dropped nearly 82,000 barrel bombs in nine years, killing 11,087 civilians, including 1,821 children.
The regime was also accused of filling canisters with chlorine and dropping them on civilians. Barrel bombs can destroy everything in an 800ft radius.
State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland described the brutal explosives to NBC News as "vicious things indiscriminately launched ... at targets without any concern about civilians."
It is believed that the specialists' arrival is a big factor behind both the United States and European nations warning that chemical weapons are likely to be used in Ukraine.
"Barrel bombs are the most horrible and hurtful weapon… We deal with multi-trauma, many amputations and intestines out of the body, it’s too horrible", a surgeon from Aleppo, Syria's capital, told Amnesty.
Despite this, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has denied ever using barrel bombs.
Putin, a staunch ally of al-Assad, has already used brutal tactics to kill thousands of civilians in his bloody war.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded 7,964 civilian casualties in the country with 3,778 killed and 4,186 injured. However, the true toll is thought to be much higher with the Kremlin's forces using tactics to cover up deaths.
It has been reported that around 800 Russian-trained Syrian fighters have signed up to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. Some say the Kremlin has promised salaries of between $1,500-$4,000 – up to 20 times the amount they would receive in Syria.
Videos purporting to show Syrian fighters brandishing posters of President Putin have been circulating but a senior US defence official told reports that evidence of fighters on the frontline has yet to materialise.
They said: "We haven't seen indications that their recruiting efforts have borne fruit and resulted in the actual arrival of foreign fighters from that part of the world."
Recruits are reportedly deployed under contract with the Wagner Group, the Russian private military organisation which has been accused of war crimes in Ukraine's Bucha — where up to 1,000 people were massacred over a few days in early April.
This comes as Putin recently named General Alexander Dvornikov as the new war commander in Ukraine.
General Dvornikov earnt the moniker "Butcher of Syria" as he played a prominent role in the Syrian war and forces under his order were frequently accused of committing crimes against humanity.
