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Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov (centre, photo from February 25, 2022)
Photo:
Yelena Afonina / TAR-TASS / IMAGO
Since the beginning of the war, Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic and Putin loyalist, has been fueling the Russian war of aggression online.
According to him, elite fighters from Chechnya are also fighting on the Russian side, but this has not been confirmed.
Now Kadyrov claims to be in Ukraine himself.
In a video published on Telegram on Monday night, he said that this video was recorded in Gostomel, a place northwest of the capital Kyiv with a nearby airfield that has been fought over since the beginning of the war.
The video, which cannot be independently verified, shows several men in military fatigues with weapons and Kadyrov studying a defaced plan on a table.
"The other day we were about 20 kilometers away from you, Kiev Nazis, and now we're even closer, and guess how close we got," Kadyrov continues.
"I'll add an intrigue: maybe we're already in Kyiv and just waiting for the necessary orders?" He also claims that "quite a few" employees of the Ukrainian secret service work for Russia.
Kadyrov also threatens the Kiev leadership in the telegram posting and calls on them to switch sides.
"You can relax for a minute, because you don't have to look for us - we will find you," continues the ruler of the North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya.
'Oh, you haven't got much longer.
Better you surrender and stand beside us, as I have suggested several times, or your end is at hand.”
Close confidante of Putin
Kadyrov is the official president of the autonomous republic of Chechnya and is considered a close confidant of Putin.
He is often referred to as his "bloodhound".
With his help and thanks to the support of his father, Akhmad Kadyrov, who was killed in a terrorist attack in 2004, Putin won the Chechen war.
The Chechen fighters are considered battle-hardened and extremely brutal.
It is unclear whether and with what troop strength they will fight in the Ukraine war.
Kadyrov claims on Telegram that "thousands" are in the country.
The information cannot be independently verified.
The group is said to be hunting down Ukrainian politicians.
It is said that each fighter received a packet of cards with the most important targets in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi also spoke of this list - and said he himself was number one on it.
mrc/dpa
