New Delhi: A squad of Chechen Special Forces ‘hunters’ has been unleashed in Ukraine to detain or kill a set of specific Ukrainian officials, Daily Mail reported.
Each soldier has reportedly been given a special ‘deck of cards’ with Ukrainian officials’ photos and descriptions on them, a Moscow Telegram channel with links to the security establishment reported, as per the Daily Mail report.
The list is of officials and security officers suspected of ‘crimes’ by the Russian Investigative Committee, the report added.
It came as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted that he is ‘target number one’ for Russian assassins in Kiev, while his family is ‘the number two goal’ for Vladimir Putin’s hitmen.
The Chechen squad is thought to be in a Ukraine forest and has allegedly been given an ‘order to kill’ if those on the wanted list cannot be detained, the report said.
There is speculation that those identified by Moscow as ‘Nazis’ would also be on the hunted list.
Putin had previously said that a key aim of invading Ukraine was to ‘deNazify’ the country.
State TV in Chechnya reported that Ramzan Kadyrov, 45, the republic’s leader and a close Putin ally, has visited his forces in Ukraine, Daily Mail reported.
The Chechens are believed to be from the South battalion of the Federal Guard Service, based in Chechnya.
Kadyrov on Thursday met with Viktor Zolotov, Director of the Federal National Guard Service and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian National Guard Forces, another close Putin ally.
Zelensky, 44, addressed the nation on Thursday night, at the end of the first day of the Russian invasion of his country.
The former TV comedian insisted that he had remained in Kiev as he urged his fellow citizens to stay strong.
He said he was speaking from Kiev but the elegance of the presidential palace was long gone: Zelensky, in his olive green t-shirt, appeared to be speaking from a bunker, the report said.