Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who has been personally leading troops from Chechnya participating in Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, reported yesterday that fighters from Chechnya have seized full control of the line of contact with Ukrainian nationalists in Severodonetsk, blocking exits from the city. “The first neighborhoods of the well-fortified city have already been cleared of enemy units,” he said on Telegram. Severodonetsk is an important city of some 100,000 in western Lugansk province.
The Ukrainian side has basically confirmed Kadyrov’s account, with their own spin. Lugansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said Russian troops had entered Severodonetsk, but claimed that Ukrainian forces were still defending it. “We will have enough strength and resources to defend ourselves. However, it is possible that in order not to be surrounded we will have to retreat,” Gaidai said on Telegram, reported Reuters.
