Kadyrov urges Putin to use low-intensity nuclear weapons in Ukraine

Chechnya's president and ally of Vladimir Putin's Russia, Ramzan Kadyrov, has raised the tone on Saturday on the war in Ukraine and demanded that the Russian president use low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine in the face of the latest setbacks suffered by the invading army on Ukrainian territory. 

"Moscow should consider the use of low-intensity nuclear weapons in Ukraine given the recent setbacks it has suffered on the battlefield," Kadyrov, Vladimir Putin's political and military ally on the Ukrainian front, said in a statement via the Telegram network. The Chechen leader also called for the declaration of martial law in the border area.

Nervousness is spreading in the ranks of Russia and its allies due to the setbacks that the Russian armed forces are suffering with the loss of territories, the most notable of which is the city of Liman. The Ukrainian army surrounded the Russian forces in Liman and managed to enter this city located in the east of Ukrainian territory in the Donetsk region under Russian control since last May, at a time when Russian President Putin officially staged the signing of the decrees of annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Lugansk, Donetsk and Zaporiyia following the pro-Russian referendums held in those areas and branded illegal by the West. 

Following the Russian army's withdrawal from the strategic Ukrainian city of Liman, where it had 5,000 troops, Kadyrov expressed his displeasure and called on Russia to further escalate the conflict. "In my opinion, harsher measures should be taken, equivalent to declaring martial law in the border areas and using low-yield nuclear weapons," Kadyrov added in a message on the Telegram social network, in which he sharply criticised Russian military commanders for abandoning the city of Liman.

Kadyrov blamed Colonel Alexander Lapin for the recapture of the town of Liman by Ukrainian forces on Saturday. The Chechen leader said that Lapin sent fighters from the Lugansk People's Republic and other units "without the necessary communications, supplies and ammunition".

He also criticised Lapin for moving his headquarters to Starobilsk, 150 kilometres away from the troops: "How can you command your units when you are 150 kilometres away? Today we have lost a lot of territory because of the lack of basic military logistics". "If it were up to me I would demote Lapin to a private, strip him of his medals and send him to the front with a machine gun in his hand to wipe his shame with blood," he said.

Razman Kadyrov is a key ally of Vladimir Putin and made up to 10,000 fighters available to the Russian president for the Ukrainian war when the conflict began. On 24 February, the so-called special operation on Ukrainian territory launched by Russia under the pretext of "denazifying" and "demilitarising" Ukraine began, and Kadyrov positioned himself on Moscow's side, showing his full support and loyalty to the Russian president. 

Vladimir Putin himself has already threatened Russia's nuclear power, which he said is in part superior to that of NATO itself, which is not a very reassuring message, especially now with the demands coming from its Chechen partner. 

#Kadyrov advocates the use of a low-yield nuclear device against Ukraine. I am getting more convinced that this is coming. https://t.co/WmBpvmUNKQ

— Adam Ure ? (@TheAdamUre) October 1, 2022

It should be noted that Russia has a very substantial nuclear arsenal, including low-level tactical nuclear weapons. The low-intensity weapons Kadyrov is calling for are known as "tactical nuclear weapons", small atomic weapons with explosive power ranging from 0.3 to 100 kilotons, compared to the 1.2 megatons of the largest US strategic warhead or the 58 megaton bomb tested by Russia in 1961, as reported by Infobae.