Chechen

Thousands of Chechens mobilizing south of Ukraine. Hundreds of Chechen fighters praying in the forest before battle. Dozens of Chechen special forces handed ...

Thousands of Chechens mobilizing south of Ukraine. Hundreds of Chechen fighters praying in the forest before battle. He uploaded a video purporting to show Tushayev with Anzor Bisaev, another Chechen commander who was in Ukraine. “They are more alive than the living,” he wrote. Images posted to pro-Ukrainian channels have shown Chechen tanks, branded with the telltale V, smoldering on the side of the road. Beyond the fighters who have arrived north of Kyiv, there are known to be two Chechen battalions stationed in Crimea. Thousands of Chechens mobilizing south of Ukraine. Hundreds of Chechen fighters praying in the forest before battle. Videos taken elsewhere in the country—likely from the northeast, where snow is still on the ground—showed the bodies of fighters purportedly from the Caucasus. Dozens of Chechen special forces handed playing cards bearing the names and photos of their intended targets. Yet a small contingent of Chechen fighters on the outskirts of Kyiv isn’t quite what was promised by pro-Kremlin propaganda. Dozens of Chechen special forces handed playing cards bearing the names and photos of their intended targets. The pace of fighting in Ukraine suggests Russia expected significantly less resistance than it has actually encountered, an assessment shared by Western intelligence. Video of Chechen fighters perusing weapons and vehicles in a captured Ukrainian supply depot, from Saturday, were shared widely. Putin’s repeated use of Chechen special forces to fight his wars has bolstered their fearsome image.