Top Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov sends teenage sons to fight in Ukraine as bizarre images show them firing weapons
A STAUNCH ally of Vladimir Putin has said he is sending his three teenage sons to fight in Ukraine.
Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the Chechen region, is a vocal supporter of the Russian tyrant’s war, and bizarre video shows the three boys practising firing weapons.
Kadyrov - notorious for inflicting medieval torture on opponents -said Monday he was sending Adam, 14, Eli, 15, and 16-year-old Akhmat to the Ukraine front.
The video showed the boys in camouflage clothing and dark glasses, on tanks, guns strapped to their waists, shooting rocket launchers and machine guns.
At times the teenagers smile while shooting or made a thumbs-up gesture.
"It's time to prove themselves in a real fight, I can only welcome this desire," Kadyrov wrote on Telegram.
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"Soon they will go to the front line and will be on the most difficult sections of the contact line."
He said the three have trained for combat "almost from their youngest years" and insisted he was "not joking."
Using children under the age of 15 to fight is considered a war crime by the International Criminal Court though Russia does not recognise its jurisdiction.
Prada-wearing Kadyrov has been described as "the son Putin never had," such is his slavish devotion to the Russian president.
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Following Russia’s recent humiliating defeats he said Moscow should now consider using a low-yield nuclear weapon in Ukraine.
In a chilling message, he wrote: "In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons."
He commands his own paramilitary force, the Kadyrovtsy, which he sent into Ukraine during the initial invasion at the very start of the war.
But while they came with a fearsome reputation they have faced slaughter on the battlefield.
They have been mocked by Ukrainians for appearing to focus more on uploading glossy videos to social media than on taking part in front-line battles.
Just three days after the start of the war, top Chechen general Magomed Tushaev was killed in fighting outside Kyiv, as the Russian advance stalled.
Days later, footage was shared on Telegram of a destroyed Russian column in the western Kyiv suburb of Bucha, showing vehicles that reportedly belonged to Kadyrov's men.
During the brutal siege of Mariupol, Kadyrov himself bizarrely took a rifle-toting Adam son with him as he took his troops into the beleaguered city.
The leader said he wanted his boy "to learn first-hand about the successes and needs of our comrades-in-arms".
Adam had earlier sparked controversy over his luxury watch collection, including a Richard Mille original reported to cost more than £263,000.
In the first days of the invasion, the former separatist rebel gave a speech urging Volodymyr Zelensky to ask Putin for forgiveness.
During his address, he was pictured wearing military fatigues and a pair of £1200 Prada Monolith boots.
The ruthless with a penchant for torture, murder, kidnapping and anti-gay purges - has an estimated fortune of up to £150million.
He is believed to own an villa on the exclusive man-made palm tree shaped island Palm Jumeriah in Dubai.
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The warlord also has an expensive car collection, including a Rolls Royce and Lamborghini - along with a £70million private plane, an Airbus A319.
He even has a private zoo - including tigers - near one of his mansions.
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