CHECHEN LEADER KADYROV CRITICIZES RUSSIAN ARMY AFTER UKRAINE SETBACK

Mon 12 September 2022:

Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya and a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has criticized the conduct of the Russian army following the fall of Izyum, a crucial supply center in the eastern Ukrainian province of Kharkiv, over the weekend.

He acknowledged the campaign was not going as expected in an 11-minute voice message that he shared to the Telegram messaging service on Saturday.

“If today or tomorrow changes are not made in the conduct of the special military operation, I will be forced to go to the country’s leadership to explain to them the situation on the ground,” Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed leader of Chechnya, said.

“I’m not a strategist like those in the defence ministry. But it’s clear that mistakes were made. I think they will draw a few conclusions,” Novaya Gazeta Europe quoted him as saying, adding that all settlements will return to Russian control.

UKRAINE’S RAPID ADVANCES “A MAJOR DEFEAT” FOR RUSSIAN FORCES

“We have our men out there, fighters prepared specifically for such situations. 10,000 more fighters are ready to join them. We’ll reach Odesa in the nearest future.”

The criticism came after the Russian army’s leadership appeared to be caught off-guard by Ukraine’s fightback against its invasion in the northeast.

Russian nationalists called angrily on Sunday for Putin to make immediate changes to ensure ultimate victory in the Ukraine war, a day after Moscow was forced to abandon its main bastion in northeastern Ukraine.

The swift fall of Izyum was Russia’s worst military defeat since its troops were forced back from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in March.

On Saturday, as Russian troops withdrew from town after town, Putin opened the biggest Ferris wheel in Europe in a Moscow park, and fireworks lit up the night sky over Red Square to commemorate the city’s establishment in 1147.

Some pro-war bloggers and Russian nationalists expressed enormous rage on social media in response to Moscow’s nearly complete silence on the setback or any explanation for what had happened in northeastern Ukraine.

The Russian defense ministry on Friday posted video footage of what it claimed were troops being dispatched to the Kharkiv region as the defeats developed.

Russian forces reportedly used airborne troops, missiles, and artillery to attack Ukrainian positions in the area, according to the defence ministry on Sunday.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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