No casualties among Chechen members of Russian Guard unit involved in Ukraine operation - Kadyrov

GROZNY. Feb 26 (Interfax) - A Chechen unit of the Russian Guard involved in the special operation in Ukraine has not sustained any losses, head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said on his Telegram channel.

"Some are saying Chechens are surrendering, and some are saying a lot of our soldiers have been killed. I am telling you officially: we don't have a single casualty at the moment, not a single man has been injured, not even a scratch. Nobody has even caught cold," Kadyrov said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.

"There are good achievements and results. Our National Guard members have taken an operative brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard. There is a lot of armored hardware, munitions, and weapons there. There have been three armed clashes but no casualties. We've taken this asset of the brigade," he said.

The service members taking part in the Russian operation in Ukraine are focused on ensuring the local population's security and preventing the destruction of cities, Kadyrov said.

"We have no desire to fight Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. We are opposed to those who have sought to kill us. Our position is security of our state and people. And we don't want Russia to be attacked through Ukraine," Kadyrov said. "Don't think that Chechens or Russians don't like you. All of us like you. We don't want war," he said.

Kadyrov had earlier posted an address in which he said that over 12,000 Chechen soldiers volunteered to go fighting in Ukraine.

"By the way, we see from the situation in Ukraine today that quite a lot of terrorists have found shelter there. Among them are those who killed our brothers, sisters, women, children, and elderly people in the Chechen republic and then fled to Europe to hide from responsibility under protection of various special services," Kadyrov said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on the morning of February 24 that he decided to carry out a special military operation over the situation in Donbas.