"He does not love his people. He loves only his inner circle," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in response to U.S. podcaster Lex Fridman's suggestion that Putin is a "serious person who loves his country."
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane was rendered "uncontrollable" by electronic warfare, and its tail section was damaged by fire from the ground while flying over Russia before crashing, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told the media, the Trend News Agency reported on Dec. 29.
The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) on Dec. 27 said the aircraft had been hit by “a Russian Pantsir S1 air defense system on Russian terrain.”
Footage of the plane shows traces of a large surface-to-air missile impact on the tail section of the plane, according to Russian independent media outlet Meduza.
According to Kazakhstan's Transport Ministry, the plane operated by Azerbaijan Airlines had 37 Azerbaijani passengers, 16 Russians, six Kazakhs, and three Kyrgyz, along with five crew members on board.
In December 1994, Russian troops launched a brutal and eventually unsuccessful military campaign against Chechen rebels, effectively beginning the First Chechen War. Thirty years later and two wars since, Chechnya, under strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, has become a key pillar of Russian President Vladimir Putin's oppressive regime. After losing the first
Key developments on Dec. 12: * Trump hints he won't 'abandon' Kyiv but opposes Ukraine launching US missiles inside Russia * Drones attack Chechnya, hitting police building, Kadyrov claims * Poland 'dismisses speculation' on peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, PM says * US House passes 2025 defense spending bill without Ukraine lend-lease extension * Hungary did
The attack damaged the roof of the building, shattered windows, and lightly injured four men on guard duty, Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov claimed. This marks the third reported drone strike against Chechnya during Russia's war against Ukraine.
A drone attack hit a special police regiment building in the center of the city of Grozny in the Chechen Republic on Dec. 4, Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov claimed, Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti reported.
The downing of a drone in Dagestan comes shortly after an unprecedented drone strike against a Russian military academy in neighboring Chechnya on Oct. 29.
Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov on Oct. 29 apparently boasted about using Ukrainian prisoners as human shields, claiming there were casualties among the captives after a drone strike on Chechnya.
One of the most likely versions explaining the incident links the attack to the deadly shooting in the Moscow office of the Russian online retailer Wildberries in September and a conflict between Kadyrov and lawmakers from the neighboring Caucasus republics, the source said.
The drones hit the building of the Russian Special Forces University named after Vladimir Putin in the city of Gudermes, the independent news outlet Agentstvo reported.
The incident took place near Grozny, the capital of Russia's Muslim-majority republic in the North Caucasus ruled by Putin's ally, dictator Ramzan Kadyrov.
"There are witnesses, there are people from whom they tried to commission, whom they asked how much they would take for the order," Ramzan Kadyrov said in Chechen to other officials from the North Caucasian republic.
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.
"I had the pleasure of testing the new technology and saw for myself that it is not by chance that it is called 'Cyberbeast.' ... I am sure this 'beast' will be of great use to our fighters," Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov said on Aug. 17.
The French Interior Ministry did not provide any more details but said it was the first terrorist plot targeting the Olympics that had been foiled.
New reporting has put the Chechen warlord's health in the headlines once more. But there are other, subtler, signs that the republic might be preparing for a regime change. Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov is used to speculation about his imminent demise. Pundits have discussed the 47-year-old's failing health since September
A Chechen Telegram channel unaffiliated with the regime of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov shared videos of what appeared to be Askhab Uspanov's dead body lying in a morgue, showing lacerations on his neck and other signs of apparent abuse.
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