Agence France-Presse was not able to immediately verify the claim.
Russia’s ‘undefeatable’ missile doesn’t work well: UK intel
Russia’s ‘undefeatable’ missile doesn’t work well: UK intel
Ukraine said on Tuesday it had shot down 10 Kinzhal missiles Russia fired at the country, during a wave of massive strikes on Ukrainian towns that left six people dead.
According to the British defence ministry, Moscow reserves these warheads for what it considers to be “high-value and well-defended” targets.
Kyiv has urged for more Western military support, worrying about war fatigue in some countries as the conflict drags on for almost two years.
Chechen soldiers captured the Ukrainians during fighting in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Kadyrov said on Friday, according to Russian media reports.
He showed a video in Chechnya’s capital Grozny in which these Ukrainians allegedly also pleaded for an exchange under the conditions he had mentioned.
The Chechen leader said the punitive measures imposed on his mother, his daughters and his horses should be lifted. “Even if there are some more sanctions on me, we will still release these people,” he said.
Kadyrov is one of the closest henchmen of Putin. Moscow therefore allows him to get away with tyranny and autocratic behaviour in his home country, a republic of Russia close to the Caspian Sea.
Russia fires North Korean missiles at Ukraine for first time: Kyiv
Russia fires North Korean missiles at Ukraine for first time: Kyiv
According to the Geneva Convention, Kadyrov is not allowed to treat the Ukrainian prisoners of war as his private prisoners and is also not allowed to show them on video. He is also not authorised to negotiate.
In the Czech Republic, a valuable horse was confiscated that is said to belong to Kadyrov and disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 2023.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden’s top budget official warned in stark terms on Friday about the rapidly diminishing time that lawmakers have to replenish US aid for Ukraine, as the fate of that money to Kyiv remains tied up in negotiations over immigration where a deal has so far been out of reach.
Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, stressed that there is no avenue to help Ukraine aside from Congress approving additional funding to help Kyiv as it fends off Russia in a war that is now nearly two years old. While the Pentagon has some limited authority to help Kyiv absent new funding from Capitol Hill, “that is not going to get big tranches of equipment” into Ukraine, Young said on Friday.
While the administration still has presidential drawdown authority, which allows it to pull weapons from existing US stockpiles and send them quickly to Ukraine, officials have decided to forgo that authority because Congress has not approved additional money to essentially backfill that equipment – a move that Young said was a “very tough” decision.
The US sent a US$250 million weapons package to Ukraine late last month, which officials say was likely to be the last package because of the lack of funding.
Young also detailed the impact that a lack of additional US aid would have on Ukraine aside from its military capabilities, such as Kyiv being able to pay its civil servants to ensure that its government can continue to function amid Russia’s barrage.
Putin offers citizenship to foreigners who fight for Russia
Putin offers citizenship to foreigners who fight for Russia
“I’m very concerned that it’s not just the United States’ resources that are necessary for Kyiv to stop Putin. It is: What message does that send to the rest of the world? And what will their decisions be if they see the United States not step up to the plate?” Young said during a breakfast with journalists on Friday hosted by the Christian Science Monitor news organisation.
Young, a veteran of the congressional budget office, said the situation was “dire” and “certainly, we’ve bypassed my comfort level” in the time that has gone by since Congress approved new funding for Ukraine.
Biden requested a smaller tranche of new aid to Ukraine in September, but then went to Congress with a sweeping national security spending request in late October that included roughly US$60 billion in new funding for Ukraine.
Asked whether the emergency spending request with Ukraine should pass before legislation to fund the government, Young said: “I’ll take it however they can pass it. I mean, beggars shouldn’t be choosing. And I’ll take it, how they can pass it. It just needs to be passed.”
Additional reporting by Associated Press, dpa