Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of Chechnya, says he is in Ukraine alongside Russian forces who are leading an offensive in the country.
Kadyrov, who is accused by international NGOs of serious human rights violations in the tightly controlled Caucasus republic, posts a video on Telegram of himself in military uniform studying plans around a table with soldiers in a room.
He says in a message that the video had been shot at Hostomel, an airfield near Kyiv captured by Russian forces in the first days of their offensive.
This information cannot be independently verified.
Chechen regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov, center, wearing a Russian military uniform, attends celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, in Chechnya’s provincial capital Grozny, Russia, Saturday, May 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev)
“The other day we were about 20 km from you Kyiv Nazis and now we are even closer,” Kadyrov writes.
He calls on Ukrainian forces to surrender “or you will be finished.”
Kadyrov, who rules Russia’s Chechnya Republic with an iron fist, is a former rebel turned Kremlin ally with a paramilitary force at his command.
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