By KATE DENNETT

Daily Mail

Vladimir Putin has tod

ay given the go-ahead for up to 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East to be deployed alongside Russian-backed rebels to fight in Ukraine.

The move, which comes just over two weeks since the Russian President ordered the ruthless invasion, allows Russia to deploy battle-hardened mercenaries from conflicts such as Syria without risking additional Russian military casualties.

Putin has also asked his defense minister to prepare plans for possible fortification of Russia's western border in response to NATO troop movement in eastern Europe.

It will double down on the brutal invasion that the West says has been losing momentum, as Russian troops continue their offensive toward Ukrainian capital Kyiv from the northwest and east. 

As his invasion of Ukraine enters its third week, the Russian leader also met with his Belarus' counterpart Alexander Lukashenko at the Kremlin on Friday.

At a meeting of Russia's Security Council, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said 16,000 volunteers in the Middle East were ready to fight alongside Russian-backed forces in the breakaway Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. 

Russia's Defense Ministry TV channel has also shared footage of supposed Syrian combatants ready to 'volunteer' in Ukraine. 

Putin, speaking at the council from the Kremlin, said they could help volunteers, who he claimed were joining of their own accord rather than for money, to 'get to the conflict zone'. 

'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 Donbass, then we need to give them what they want and help them get to the conflict zone,' he added in an exchange that was shown on Russian state television.