- Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov posted a video of his teenage sons presenting him with Ukrainian POWs.
- Kadyrov previously revealed that his three sons, aged 14-16, had been on the frontline in Ukraine.
A bizarre video appears to show Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov being presented with Ukrainian prisoners of war by his teenage sons.
The Chechen warlord, who is a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, recently revealed that his three teenage sons, Akhmat, 16, Eli, 15, and Adam, 14, have been fighting on the frontline in Ukraine.
The video, which was posted on Kadyrov's Telegram channel, appears to show two of his sons, along with other Russian soldiers, bringing three Ukrainian prisoners of war to him in Grozny.
—Alex Kokcharov (@AlexKokcharov) October 21, 2022
The prisoners are bent over with their hands restrained behind their backs, and hats pulled over their faces. When they reach Kadyrov, their faces are uncovered, and they are identified as Ukrainians.
Kadyrov wrote on Telegram that his sons had captured the soldiers during a special operation they carried out as part of the West-Akhmat battalion.
Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger condemned the video on Twitter, commenting: "Demons."
Insider could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
Lawyers have noted that filming prisoners of war without their consent violates their rights under the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war.
Maxim Grebenyuk, a lawyer and an expert in military law, told the Caucasian Knot: "POWs should give their written consent to filming the video and posting thereof in the public domain."
Kadyrov has been vocal about his belief that underage boys should be sent to war.
He previously said on Telegram that his sons had "visited the contact line, where fierce battles with Ukrainian nationalists are currently taking place" and shared a video of them firing weapons from a trench.
"Minor age should not interfere with the training of the defenders of our motherland," Kadyrov wrote on VK, a Russian social media platform, according to Newsweek.
"I always believed that the main goal of any father is to instill piety in his sons and teach them to protect the family, the people, the Fatherland. It's time to show themselves in a real fight, and this is their desire, I only welcome," he said.
Kadyrov has been a staunch supporter of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and Chechen forces have formed part of the vanguard of the Russian army. Recently, he has called on Russia to use a "low-yield nuclear weapon" after it suffered a major defeat in eastern Ukraine.