Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has criticised the Russian army’s performance after the loss over the weekend of Izyum, a critical supply hub in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv province.
In an 11-minute-long voice message posted to the Telegram messaging app on Saturday, he conceded the campaign was not going to plan.
“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.
“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.
