Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to the Chechen Republic on Aug. 21 to inspect Chechen troops readying to deploy to Ukraine's front line - marking his first visit to the region in 13 years.
Putin, alongside Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, toured the Russian Special Forces University in Chechnya, as troops prepare to deploy to Ukraine's front line, Russian state media reported. Putin's visit to the majority Muslim republic comes as Ukraine continues its unprecedented incursion into Kursk Oblast - with Moscow reportedly deploying troops into the region.
"As long as we have men like you, we are absolutely, absolutely invincible," Putin reportedly told troops in Chechnya, according to Russian state media.
At the beginning of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russian conscripts will not be involved in the combat. As all-out war entered its third year, Putin signed a decree meant to conscript 150,000 citizens as part of the regularly occurring spring conscription campaign.
According to multiple reports, a number of conscripts were sent to Kursk Oblast and some 250 of them were captured by Ukrainian forces, the Washington Post reported on Aug. 16, citing an unnamed head of a prison where they were held.
Mothers of conscripts called on Putin to withdraw them from Kursk Oblast, the Moscow Times wrote on Aug. 12. The petition reportedly collected more than 5,000 signatures.
Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the Chechen Akhmat Regiment fighting for Russia, said on Aug. 19 that Russian conscripts should go to the front, and those who will be killed in Kursk Oblast "will go to heaven."
Earlier on Aug. 20, Russia's Defense Ministry announced that it will establish troop groups in Belgorod, Kursk, and Bryansk oblasts to defend settlements along the Ukrainian border amid the incursion.
Russia's casualty count reportedly surpassed 600,000 troops on Aug. 19, according to Ukrainian estimates.
Kateryna Denisova
(Updated: )
