Chechen leader vows revenge after drone attack

PHOTO CAPTION: Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov addresses service members while making a statement, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine, in Grozny, Russia February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Chingis Kondarov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov promised on Tuesday to take revenge for a drone attack that caused a fire at a military training academy in his south Russian region.

Ukraine has frequently struck Russia with drones in the course of the war, but Tuesday's attack appeared to be the first against Chechnya. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

"They've bitten us - we will destroy them," Kadyrov told reporters in a video published by Russian state news agency RIA.

"In the very near future we'll show them the kind of vengeance they've never even dreamt of," he said.

Earlier, Kadyrov posted on Telegram that the drone strike had set fire to the roof of what he said was an empty building at the "special forces university" in the city of Gudermes. There were no casualties, he said.

Kadyrov has been a vocal supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine, to which he has contributed Chechen forces.



(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Angus MacSwan)