After 13 years, Vladimir Putin has finally visited Chechnya to meet with military volunteers, whom he praised for making Russia “unbeatable”. This visit coincided with Ukraine’s ongoing invasion of Russia’s Kursk region, showing no signs of stopping.
Despite the ongoing conflict, Russia has been making progress in the war that began when Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Latest updates on the Ukraine war: Russia seizes ‘strategically important’ town
The leader of the Kremlin initiated his unexpected visit to the Muslim-majority republic of the Russian Federation by paying respects to Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.
Putin then toured a special forces academy named after him and interacted with volunteer fighters being prepared before their deployment to Ukraine.
The 71-year-old leader commended the volunteers and expressed confidence that with men like them, Russia would remain “unconquerable,” as reported by Russian state agencies.
Kadyrov stated in a post on his official Telegram channels that over 47,000 fighters, including volunteers, have trained at the facility since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine began.
This visit followed a day after billionaire Elon Musk denied gifting the Chechen warlord a cybertruck, after Kadyrov shared a video of himself riding the vehicle.
Fighters from Chechnya, known for their struggle for independence post the Soviet Union collapse, have taken part on both sides of the Ukraine conflict. Pro-Kyiv volunteers supporting Dzhokhar Dudayev, the deceased Chechen independence advocate, are vehement rivals of Chechen forces aligning with Putin and Kadyrov.
The latter group has actively participated in the siege of Mariupol, a crucial port in Ukraine, and other conflict zones in the south and east of the country.
Putin’s visit occurs at a critical juncture for Russian forces dealing with the most significant invasion since World War II, following Ukraine’s unexpected incursion into Kursk three weeks back.
While Ukraine has been gaining ground, experts have indicated that this situation has put Putin in a predicament he never anticipated, as reported by Sky News.
Meanwhile, Russia claims to have made advancements in the conflict, announcing the capture of the town of Niu-York in Donetsk on Tuesday.
