Cherson (AP) - According to Ukrainian sources, more than 100 soldiers from the Russian republic of Chechnya were hit by artillery in the Russian-occupied Cherson region. "Precise artillery strikes by the defense forces killed 30 occupiers in the village of Kajiry in the Kherson region and left more than 100 enemy soldiers under the rubble," the Ukrainian general staff said in its evening situation report.
According to several consistent reports, soldiers belonging to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov were hit. The information could not be verified independently.
The Ukrainian military governor of the Kherson region, Serhiy Khlan, explained that after the Chechen unit left the city of Kherson across the Dnipro River, they were stationed in a school in a village on the other bank of the river. The men themselves revealed their whereabouts through photos on social networks. "All our forces had to do was keep at it," Chlan said. He reported more than 40 dead and 60 buried.
The opposition Chechen Telegram channel 1Adat claimed that the headquarters of a Kadyrov regiment housed in a school had been shot at and put the death toll at around 100.
Kadyrov to the west: "We will destroy them"
The notorious Chechen ruler did not comment on the incident himself, but Kadyrov took to social media to vent his displeasure at Russia's allegedly too soft action in Ukraine.
Martial law has already been imposed in regions bordering Ukraine, Kadyrov said. "But they continue to shoot at peaceful citizens and civilian objects." Russia's response to this was "weak," Kadyrov criticized. In retaliation, he demanded the obliteration of Ukrainian cities "so that we can see the distant horizon."
Kadyrov accused the US, the EU and NATO of "unilateral treason" over the arms deliveries to Kyiv. The West has been trying to starve Russia out for years with a "cold economic war." "That didn't work out". Now the West wants to bring Russia to its knees and enslave it, Kadyrov said. "We will destroy them, however many they are and however many troops and technology they send," he said.
Kadyrov, known for his brutal leadership in Chechnya in the North Caucasus, has emerged as one of the most ardent supporters of the war since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, sending troops of his own into Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov, advised Kadyrov to withdraw from Ukraine while he still could and to fight for Chechnya's independence. Otherwise the Russians would "come back and kill Chechen women and children," Danilov claimed on Twitter.
