Vladimir Putin should threaten to use nuclear weapons if the West puts mercenary fighters into Ukraine, one of his closest henchmen has demanded.
Warlord Ramzan Kadyrov - leader of Chechnya and a lieutenant-general in the Russian national guard - also called on Putin not to abandon his aim of seizing Kyiv despite the current pullback.
Outspoken hardliner Kadyrov, 45, claims to be personally involved in the war especially with Chechen forces around decimated Mariupol.
In a new video, the Chechen head, so powerful he criticises some of Putin’s most trusted inner circle, said: “What would I do?
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“I would immediately clear Luhansk and Donetsk, and begin to work further.
“I would declare: If any mercenary comes to Ukraine we would go up to a strike with nuclear tactical [weapons] at certain points…
“So they do not mock us. NATO, the West, are at war with us. This isn't a joke.”
Loyalist Kadyrov also said: “The tasks are clear....There will be an offensive not only in Mariupol but in other settlements, cities and villages, to free Luhansk and Donetsk first of all.
“This goal was set by the supreme commander, our dear president Vladimir Putin.”
But he stressed: “After, we will take Kyiv and all the other cities…
“There are questions from people, that since we moved away from Kyiv, we do not plan to take it and Russia yields to Ukraine…
“I assure you, there will not be any step back.
“There was confusion, such moments happen with war strategy.
“A goodwill gesture was misunderstood by our…foes.”
He showed maps supposedly to indicate his involvement in war planning, from his palace in Chechnya.
Earlier he had boasted of taking his son Adam, 14, one of his dozen children, to the war in Mariupol.
A separate video showed Kadyrov being awarded the shoulder straps of a Lt-Gen in the national guard on Putin’s orders.
It was bestowed in Chechen capital Grozny by Lt-Gen Sergei Zakharov, commander of the North Caucasian district of the Russian national guard.
Earlier Kadyrov had blasted Putin’s powerful spokesman Dmitry Peskov, also deputy head of the Kremlin administration, for failing to announce his new military rank.
The spat was indicative of open warfare among leading powerbrokers in Putin’s circle, with some seen as wanting a way out of the war in Ukraine, while others aim to expand it.
