Chechen ruler criticizes Russian military for retreating from occupied cities in Ukraine. ‘Explain yourselves!’

As Ukraine’s counteroffensive drives back invading troops, the public panic among the war’s supporters is Russia has become louder. On Sunday, September 11, Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov added his voice to this growing chorus, criticizing the Russian Defense Ministry for withdrawing occupation forces from the cities of Izyum, Kupiansk, and Balakliya in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.

In a video shared on his Telegram channel, Kadyrov warned that he would be “compelled” to contact Russia’s military and national leaders “in order to explain the situation,” if immediate changes aren’t made to the invasion’s strategy. The Chechen ruler also complained that Russia’s Defense Ministry hasn’t openly addressed the Ukrainian counteroffensive “even though they’ve been watching the whole thing”:

If Russia wanted to, [leaders] could have ordered not a single step back. So, they need to explain why they did what they did. For what happened, I see that their people were unprepared. We always show how we’re firing, how we’re capturing, and how we’re destroying. We need to show the other side, too.

At the same time, Kadyrov vowed that Russia would retake the liberated cities, and to this end he pledged the service of thousands of soldiers from Chechnya. “And we’ll reach Odesa in the near future,” he proclaimed.