Ukraine war: Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov calls for Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons

Ramzan Kadyrov blames top Russian commander for losing a key town in the annexed Donetsk region, demands he ‘wash off his shame with blood.’

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a screen at Red Square as he addresses a rally and a concert marking the annexation of four regions of Ukraine. Picture: AFP

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has blamed a top Russian commander for losing a key town in the annexed Donetsk region to Ukraine, and called for Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons.

Earlier on Sunday Ukraine forces entered Lyman, located in one of the four Ukrainian regions that Russia annexed despite international condemnation.

The recapture of Lyman -- which Moscow’s forces pummelled for weeks to control this spring -- would mark the first Ukrainian military victory in territory that the Kremlin has claimed as its own and has vowed to defend by all possible means.

Ukraine’s defence ministry announced its forces were “entering” Lyman after Kyiv’s army said it had “encircled” several thousand Russian troops near the town.

The ministry posted a video of soldiers holding up a yellow and blue Ukrainian flag near a sign with the town’s name.

Shortly after Ukraine’s announcement, Russia’s defence ministry said it had “withdrawn” troops from Lyman “to more favourable lines”.

“Due to the risk of being encircled, the allied forces were withdrawn from Krasny Lyman to more advantageous frontiers,” the ministry said in a statement.

Almost immediately Mr Karydov, a staunch Putin ally, blamed colonel-general Alexander Lapin for the defeat and said Russia should consider using low-yield nuclear weapons.

“In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and use of low-yield nuclear weapons,” Mr Kadyrov said on his Telegram channel.

“The defence of this area was led by commander of the Central Military District colonel-general Alexander Lapin. The very Lapin that received a Hero of Russia medal for capturing Lysychansk, even though de-facto he was nowhere near [Lysychansk]. He got the command of the Western Military District troops, too,” Kadyrov wrote in a post on his Telegram channel.

“If it were up to me, I would demote Lapin to a private, strip him of his medals, and send him to the frontline with a rifle in his hands to wash off his shame with blood,” Mr Kadyrov added, according to the independent Russian news website Novaya Gazeta.

Artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems thundered into the night, and two pairs of fighter jets could be seen launching flares as they provided close air support.

Russia had kept several thousand troops in the city, and the continuing violence suggested that some -- if not most -- of these soldiers may have remained trapped. Roads to Lyman are lined with burned-out hulks of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles, with bodies of Russian soldiers lying on the sides.

Little remains of nearby villages, with hardly any civilians left. Ukrainian forces, too, have been taking significant casualties.

Earlier, Ukraine had enveloped the Lyman area from the north and the south. Ukrainian troops that bypassed the city were pressing further east, toward the nearby Luhansk region, confronting reinforcements dispatched by Russia.

Ukrainian soldiers rest at their position near Lyman. Picture: CHIBA / AFP.

Russian troops ‘encircled’ in annexed region

Ukraine said it had encircled several thousand Russian troops near a key town in one of the four Moscow-held territories that President Vladimir Putin annexed a day earlier despite condemnation from Kyiv and the West.

Putin staged a grand ceremony in the Kremlin yesterday to celebrate the annexations of four territories controlled by his army.

“I want to say this to the Kyiv regime and its masters in the West: People living in Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens forever,” Putin said.

US President Joe Biden condemned the ceremony in Moscow as a “sham routine” and pledged to continue backing Kyiv.

On Saturday, Ukrainian forces were on the doorstep of Lyman town in Donetsk, which Moscow’s forces pummelled for weeks to capture this spring.

Ukraine’s army said Saturday that it had “encircled” a Russian grouping near the eastern town, estimating it to be around 5,000 troops.

The governor of the neighbouring Lugansk region, Sergiy Gaiday, said the surrounded soldiers have three options: “try to break through, all die together or surrender.” The Kremlin-backed leader of Donetsk said Friday that Russian troops and their allies were holding on to Lyman with “their last strength”.

The four annexed territories create a crucial land corridor between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Together, the five regions make up around 20 per cent of Ukraine, where Kyiv in recent weeks has been clawing back territory.

‘Illegal and illegitimate’ annexation

Washington announced “severe” new sanctions against Russian officials and the defence industry, and said G7 allies support imposing “costs” on any nation that backs the annexation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately urged the US-led military alliance NATO to grant his country fast-track membership.

He also vowed never to hold talks with Russia as long as Putin was in power. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg slammed the annexation as “illegal and illegitimate” but remained non-committal after Ukraine said it was applying to join the Western alliance.

The United States and Canada voiced support for Ukraine’s membership but steered clear of promises to fast-track it.

Turkey said Saturday Russia’s annexation was a “grave violation of the established principles of international law”.

Despite warnings from Putin prior to the annexation that he could use nuclear weapons to defend the captured territories, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv would “continue liberating our land and our people”.

Kuleba also said Ukraine brought the annexations to the International Court of Justice and urged the Hague-based court to hear the case “as soon as possible”.

Nuclear plant boss detained

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that Washington would announce an “immediate” new weapons shipment for Kyiv next week.

Sullivan also said that while there is a “risk” of Putin using nuclear weapons, there is no indication he would do so imminently.

On Saturday, Ukraine’s nuclear agency said a “Russian patrol” detained the director general of the Moscow-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Ihor Murashov was leaving the plant Friday when he was detained and “driven in an unknown direction” while blindfolded, Energoatom said.

Zaporizhzhia – Europe’s largest nuclear energy facility – has been at the centre of tensions in recent weeks after Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of strikes on and near the plant, raising fears of an atomic disaster.

Russia on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning the annexation of the regions, while China, India, Brazil and Gabon abstained.

Although Russia’s veto was a certainty, Western powers had hoped to demonstrate Moscow’s growing isolation on the world stage and will now take the condemnation effort to the General Assembly, where every nation has a vote and none can kill a resolution.

At a UNESCO meeting Friday in Mexico City, representatives of dozens of countries walked out as Russia took the floor, symbolically condemning the invasion of Ukraine.

AFP