Chechen leader says his forces ‘liberated’ Mariupol city hall

By AFP 25 March 2022, 1:31 am

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Chechnya's regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov addresses servicemen attending a review of the Chechen Republic's troops and military hardware in Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic, Russia, February 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev)

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov says that forces from his Russian region have taken control of the city hall in Ukraine’s besieged southeastern port of Mariupol and hoisted the Russian flag.

Kadyrov posts on Telegram a video of a phone recording in Chechen, which he said was Russian parliamentary lawmaker Adam Delimkhanov speaking to “our valiant men”.

“The guys are radioing to say that they liberated the building of the Mariupol authorities and put up our flag over it,” the Chechen leader says on his Telegram, which has more than 1.4 million subscribers.

The former rebel-turned-Kremlin-ally writes that Ukrainian “bandits who remained alive did not risk it and abandoned their positions… and fled”.

“Other units are moving in parallel through the city and clearing it of Azov filth,” he adds, referring to Ukraine’s far-right Azov Battalion.

“God willing, soon Mariupol will be completely cleansed,” he writes.