Brutal Chechen warlord Kadyrov vows Russia will capture Ukraine capital Kyiv
Brutal Chechen warlord Kadyrov vows Russia will capture Ukraine capital Kyiv
'There will be an offensive…Ìýnot only on Mariupol, but also on other places, cities and villages,' brutal Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov said.
2 min read
Ramzan Kadyrov (right) has called himself Vladimir Putin's (left) "foot soldier" [ALEXEY DRUZHININ/RIA NOVOSTI/AFP/Getty-archive]
Brutal warlord , the powerful head of republic of Chechnya, said early on Monday that there will be an offensive by Russian forces not only on theÌýbesieged port of , but also on the capital Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
"There will be an offensive…Ìýnot only on Mariupol, but also on other places, cities and villages," Kadyrov said in a video posted on hisÌýchannel on the Telegram messaging app.
"Luhansk and Donetsk –Ìýwe will fully liberate in the first place…Ìýand then take Kyiv and all other cities."
Kadyrov, who has often described himself as Russian President Vladimir Putin's "foot soldier", said there should be no doubt about Kyiv.
"I assure you: not one step will be taken back," Kadyrov said.
Kadyrov has been repeatedly accused by the United States and European Union of rights abuses, which he denies.
Moscow fought two wars with separatists in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim region in southern Russia, after the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union. But it has since poured huge sums of money into the region to rebuild it and given Kadyrov a large measure of autonomy.
The Kremlin, which has been accused of perpetrating grave abuses during itsÌýinvasion of Ukraine, claims RussiaÌýis conductingÌýisÌýa "special operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" its neighbour, and on Sunday MoscowÌýintensified its attacks in eastern .
Kyiv strongly rejects this framing.
(Reuters)
Ìý
