The leader of Chechnya and a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov is hospitalized in critical condition, reports quoting Ukrainian intelligence say.
“The information is confirmed by various sources in the medical and political circles,” Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s military intelligence branch, told Obozrevatel, (a Ukrainian internet publication) which first reported the news. “There is information that the war criminal Kadyrov is in a serious condition and the diseases that were there have worsened and caused such a serious condition,” he said, according to The Daily Beast.
His ill-health is not due to an injury, Yusov has been quoted as saying by the report.
“It is not about injuries. Other details require additional clarification. He has been ill for a long time, and we are talking about systemic health problems,” he said. “For the last few days, he has been in a serious condition," the report added.
According to The Daily Beast, Kadyrov, a Kremlin loyalist who has been nicknamed “Putin's soldier” and “Putin's attack dog,” has deployed troops to Ukraine to aid Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war in Ukraine. Just this July, he said he had sent a detachment of Chechen troops to fight in Bakhmut. The detachment had signed a contract with Russia’s Ministry of Defense earlier this year, in stark contrast with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who had protested having his mercenaries sign on with Moscow.
Kadyrov, who has been leader of the Chechen Republic since 2007, has been an outspoken Kremin ally since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has championed Putin’s full-scale invasion since it began last year, declaring it a “Big Jihad,” New York Post said.
He has even called for Russia to use low-yield nuclear weapons against Ukraine.