Chechen chief Kadyrov says Russian forces will take Kyiv
(Reuters) -Ramzan Kadyrov, the highly effective head of Russia’s republic of Chechnya, mentioned early on Monday that there will probably be an offensive by Russian forces not solely on the besieged port of Mariupol, but in addition on Kyiv and different Ukrainian cities.
“There will probably be an offensive … not solely on Mariupol, but in addition on different locations, cities and villages,” Kadyrov mentioned in a video posted on his Telegram channel.
“Luhansk and Donetsk – we are going to totally liberate within the first place … after which take Kyiv and all different cities.”
Kadyrov, who has usually described himself as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “foot soldier,” mentioned there must be little question about Kyiv.
“I guarantee you: not one step will probably be taken again,” Kadyrov mentioned.
Kadyrov has been repeatedly accused by the US and European Union of rights abuses, which he denies.
Moscow fought two wars with separatists in Chechnya, a primarily Muslim area in southern Russia, after the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless it has since poured enormous sums of cash into the area to rebuild it and given Kadyrov a big measure of autonomy.
The Kremlin describes its actions in Ukraine as a “particular operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” its neighbour and on Sunday Russia intensified its assaults in jap Ukraine.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Ronald Popeski in Winnipeg; Writing by Lidia Kelly;Modifying by Christopher Cushing and Stephen Coates)
