The collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria following a lightning rebel offensive in November has shaken Assad-ally Russia’s near-decade of influence in the country. It has also had one other lesser-known consequence: disrupting Moscow’s ability to recruit Syrian fighters for its war in Ukraine. The Kyiv Independent spent several months analyzing Russian recruitment in Syria. We uncovered that Russia has been luring Syrians to fight in Ukraine from at least March 2022 to October 2024,