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Chechen units defending the border in Russia’s Kursk Region were unable to repel an attack by Ukrainian troops. As per a recent Telegram post from Apti Alaudinov, the commander of Ramzan Kadyrov's Akhmat special forces, his fighters “narrowly missed” the Ukrainians making their way into Russia. According to Alaudinov, the Ukrainians somehow managed to pass by the Chechen positions unnoticed — meaning the Chechens were not able to engage them in combat.
However, Russian pro-war blogger Yury Kotenok had earlier presented a completely different narrative. Kotenok claimed that the Akhmat forces were positioned in the Kursk Region in the very area where the AFU offensive had started. The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel wrote that Kadyrov's special forces stationed in the Korenevsky District “dispersed” — essentially scattered — after the first Ukrainian attacks.
About a month ago, self-styled Russian “military correspondent” Vladimir Romanov, had to issue a public apology for stating that the Akhmat unit was stationed behind groups of conscripts at the border, implying that the Chechen formations were shielding themselves behind cadres of inexperienced draftees. Just days earlier, the “Akhmat-Chechnya” regiment in the Kursk region claimed to have “liberated” the border village of Ryzhevka, which had no residents or enemy positions in it.
Notably, this isn’t the first time that Chechen troops have “narrowly missed” engaging the enemy.
During the late Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group rebellion of June 2023, Chechen formations of the Russian National Guard — essentially Kadyrov's personal security service — were pulled away from the front line in Ukraine and redirected to Rostov-on-Don. Throughout the course of the rebellion, however, the Chechen formations were either en route to the trouble spot — or else they were stuck in traffic. In the end, they never reached Rostov to confront the Wagner PMC.