Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov Threatens Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Says He’s in Ukraine

HOSTOMEL, UKRAINE - Ramzan Kadyrov has said on Telegram that he has joined Russian forces in Ukraine and claims to be heading toward ‘Nazis’ in Kyiv. The comments appeared alongside a video of the Chechnyan leader discussing military tactics with a group of soldiers, apparently taken March 13, at an airfield in the northwestern Kyiv suburb of Hostomel.

The airfield is now well known as the location of a fierce battle in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Russian forces first taking, then losing, then retaking the site.

Though Kadyrov’s video could not be verified, the Institute for the Study for War says Chechen forces are confirmed to be participating in Russian efforts to encircle Kyiv from the west and, regardless of its veracity, it can be seen as an attempt to raise the morale of Chechen troops, who have reportedly suffered heavy losses in Ukraine in the wake of Kadyrov’s very public commitments to the invasion.

However, The Kyiv Independent reported that a Chechen special forces column of tanks near Hostomel was destroyed on February 26, with Ukraine’s Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council saying those killed were part of an elite Chechen unit sent to assassinate Zelensky.