A separate unit of the Ukrainian special forces Azov published a video with an alleged prisoner of war from Chechnya, who talks about the situation at the front near Mariupol. He also appeals to Ramzan Kadyrov to send his relatives to the war in Ukraine. This is reported by the Ekho Kavkaza.
The man in the video (his name was not given) explains that he left Grozny by plane on March 17 and the next day found himself near Mariupol, where he was captured. According to him, so-called Chechen volunteers are given one assault rifle and only four magazines with ammunition when they are sent to Ukraine. He also told how Russian soldiers shot a column of Chechens who were thrown "like cannon fodder" to the front line. The corpses of those killed are burned, the man in the video says.
"Kadyrov Ramzan, I tell you the same thing. Don't kill people. Send your nephew, your son, better. Why don't you send your relatives? Send your own, let them fight. You don't have to tell the others, others want to live too," the captive appeals to the head of Chechnya.
The Chechen opposition blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov, who lives in Sweden, published a photograph of the same volunteer allegedly wearing a military uniform and carrying an army rucksack behind his back. Only the Chechen flag chevron on the sleeve was visible in the picture. The Russian Defense Ministry and authorities in Chechnya would not comment on the authenticity of the video of the Chechen prisoner.
Chechen activists and political analysts questioned by Kavkaz.Realii believe that Kadyrov is using the war in Ukraine for his personal PR campaign, while the Kremlin promotes the image of "fearless Kadyrovites" as an instrument of psychological pressure on Kiev and for internal propaganda.
Telegram channels that oppose the Chechen authorities published a video of "volunteers" from Chechnya being sent to Ukraine, and the recording shows women marching in the convoy crying. They are standing behind a cordon, and armed men are in front of them. Critics of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov claim that local residents are being forced to take part in the war, not only members of the security forces, but also people who are persecuted by them. There is no confirmation of this information from independent sources.