A federal lawmaker from the republic of Chechnya said Russian troops have successfully “destroyed” the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, according to video posted by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov late Thursday.
Adam Delimkhanov made the statement wearing combat uniform alongside dozens of Chechen troops in front of the burning remains of what he said was an administrative building belonging to the Azovstal steel plant where Ukrainian forces continue to resist the Russian offensive.
President Vladimir Putin hailed the “liberation” of Mariupol early Thursday and ordered that the remaining Ukrainian forces be blockaded inside the steel plant.
“It can be said the special operation to destroy and clear Mariupol has been completed today,” Delimkhanov said in the video. “President Vladimir Putin’s orders have been fulfilled.”
- It was not immediately clear whether Delimkhanov, who is a member of the Russian lower house of parliament, the State Duma, intended to state that Putin and Kadyrov ordered the destruction of Mariupol.
Chechen officials, including Kadyrov, have been predicting the imminent fall of Mariupol for weeks.
The southern port city has been pummelled since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The mayor of Mariupol said earlier this month the city waas 90% destroyed, with more than 5,000 of its residents killed.
As the fighting in Mariupol, the “City of Our Lady, as it is called, continues between Ukrainians and Russians, Islamist Chechens fighting alongside the Russians are taking pictures in the ruins of the city, shouting “Allahu Akbar”.
According to a video that the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov “uploaded” to his personal Telegram account, the Islamist fighters pose on the battlefield, while the ruins of Mariupol are behind them, holding flags and shouting “Allahu Akbar”.
- It is notable that these events took place during the Holy Week for the Orthodox Christians, and despite the fact that UN Secretary-General, Antonio Gutiérrez, has called for a cessation of hostilities for a four-day “humanitarian ceasefire” on the occasion of Orthodox Easter.
“Instead of celebrating a new life, this Easter coincides with a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine,” the UN Secretary-General stressed.
Russia’s response to the UN proposal was to send Islamist fighters to take over the “City of Our Lady” in Orthodox neighboring Ukraine.
Characteristically, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, Yaroslav Trofimov, commenting on this video, said “To the chants of Allahu Akbar, the city once founded by Greeks fleeing the Ottoman Empire was “liberated” of its inhabitants by Putin’s Chechen militias. What a twist of history”.
Russia’s “liberation” of Mariupol looks like this, according to Ramzan Kadyrov’s Telegram channel pic.twitter.com/3iAhVqPnZJ
— max seddon (@maxseddon) April 21, 2022
Source: Reuters