ISW: Kadyrov hesitates to send his forces to Ukraine instead of Wagner

The Kremlin has decided to send units of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to Ukraine to replace the Wagner forces to continue the offensive, while it does not dare to use its own forces for such operations.

Such conclusions were made by analysts of the Institute for War Studies in their new report.

The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, probably received an order from the Kremlin to launch offensive operations in Ukraine after the withdrawal of the Wagner forces from Bakhmut.

According to him, the Chechen special forces unit Akhmat and the special forces regiment Sever-Akhmat have been redeployed to the Maryinka direction southwest of Donetsk.

Kadyrov noted that the Russian military command ordered the Russian Guard and Akhmat troops to launch offensive actions along the front line, as well as in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Kadyrov said that these units had already begun tactical preparations for these offensives and that the offensive by Akhmat units began before the Ukrainian Defense Forces launched the counteroffensive.

ISW experts note that so far, they have not found any signs of Chechen offensive operations in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

The announced return of Chechen forces to offensive operations will snap Kadyrov's soldiers out of a nearly year-long break from participating in high-intensity combat operations in Ukraine.

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 01/06/2023