Kadyrov's Troops Captured by Ukraine After 'Attempting to Flee' in Kursk

Dozens of fighters loyal to the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, have been captured by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region, it has been reported, as Kyiv's incursion into the Russian region continues to gather momentum.

Apti Alaudinov, from the Chechen Akhmat unit fighting for Vladimir Putin, became the first Russian commander to acknowledge Moscow's losses following Ukraine's surprise strike on August 6. It has reportedly seen Kyiv advance around 6 miles into the region.

"Our people died, that's a fact. The enemy has entered several settlements," Alaudinov, an ally of Kadyrov, said in a video published on August 8 by independent Russian outlet Agentstvo, which noted that Chechen special forces had been in Kursk Oblast from April.

However, it appears that Kadyrov's fighters have also been captured and could be valuable for any future prisoner swap, according to a Ukrainian project to help Russian servicemen who do not want to fight in Putin's invasion.

The I Want to Live project posted on its Telegram channel a video of around 30 people in military uniform in a courtyard, some sitting, some standing. Newsweek has yet to verify independently the clip.

Three were asked where they were from, and they replied in turn, "from Grozny." This is the capital city of the mostly Muslim republic in Russia's Caucasus, which Kadyrov runs with an iron fist.

"The raid groups caught these Kadyrovites deep in the rear of the border," read the text next to the video post on Sunday. "They said they were attempting to escape to avoid being captured, since Ramzan Kadyrov once said that Akhmat's fighters would not surrender."

The channel said that the fighters "did not even try to resist," and that Kadyrov's troops "are of particular value for any prisoner exchange war, since Russian negotiators 'take them away first.'"

"They made the right decision not to engage in battle and voluntarily surrender, saving their lives," said the post, which added that Kadyrov's desire to protect his men are costing the Russians dearly.

"If they had defended the border, and not hidden behind conscripts," Ukraine's breakthrough "would have been impossible," it added. The Ukrainian project Deep State said the troops had been captured by Ukraine's 225th Separate Assault Brigade.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

Ukraine's operation in Kursk Oblast has allowed it to seize temporarily the battlefield initiative in part of the front line and contest Russia's theater-wide initiative, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said on Sunday.

The Washington, D.C.-based think tank said that the operation by Kyiv "has forced the Kremlin and Russian military command to react and redeploy forces and means to the sector where Ukrainian forces have launched attacks."

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