MOSCOW: Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said Monday he was sending three of his teenage sons — aged 14, 15 and 16 — to the Ukraine front.
“It’s time to prove themselves in a real fight, I can only welcome this desire,” Kadyrov wrote on Telegram, posting a video of the young boys firing missiles in a shooting range.
“Soon they will go to the front line and will be on the most difficult sections of the contact line.”
He said Akhmat (16), Eli (15) and Adam (14) have been trained for combat “almost from their youngest years” and insisted he was “not joking.”
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.
Kadyrov, a former warlord who leads the Muslim-majority Chechnya republic, has been one of the most vocal supporters of Putin’s Ukraine offensive.
The post came as the Kremlin on Monday dismissed his call to use low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine after a series of military defeats.
“This is a very emotional moment,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a daily briefing with journalists, referring to his statements.
“In our country, the use of nuclear weapons happens only on the basis of what is stated in the relevant doctrine,” Peskov said.
Peskov nevertheless hailed the “heroic contributions” of the Chechen leader to the military operation in Ukraine.
Kadyrov called on the nuclear option after Moscow withdrew from the town of Lyman, which took weeks to gain control of earlier this year.
“In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and use of low-yield nuclear weapons,” Kadyrov said on his Telegram channel.
He also criticized Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, who is in charge of Russia’s forces fighting in the region, calling him “mediocre.”
Chechnya’s Kadyrov says sending teenage sons to Ukraine front
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Chechnya’s Kadyrov says sending teenage sons to Ukraine front
- Ramzan Kadyrov, a former warlord who leads the Muslim-majority Chechnya republic, has been one of the most vocal supporters of Putin’s Ukraine offensive
- Kadyrov’s post on Telegram concering his sons came as the Kremlin dismissed his call to use low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine after a series of military defeats
UN chief launches first global, independent scientific panel on artificial intelligence
- Secretary-General Antonio Guterres nominates 40 experts to serve on body ‘dedicated to helping close the AI knowledge gap and assess the real impacts of AI’
- It will ‘help the world separate fact from fakes, and science from slop … at a moment when reliable, unbiased understanding of AI has never been more critical,’ he adds
NEW YORK CITY: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday formally launched what he described as the only global, independent scientific body focused on artificial intelligence, and submitted his recommendations for the experts to serve on it.
“It will be the first global, fully independent scientific body dedicated to helping close the AI knowledge gap and assess the real impacts of AI across economies and societies,” he told reporters in New York.
“And this could not be more urgent. AI is moving at the speed of light. No country can see the full picture alone.”
The Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence was established by the UN General Assembly through a resolution in August. Guterres said he has now submitted a list of 40 experts from all regions as his proposed candidates for the new body, which was mandated by world leaders under the UN’s Pact for the Future.
The panel is intended to provide authoritative, science-based analysis at a time when AI is developing rapidly and reshaping economies, governance and social life, but regulatory approaches remain fragmented.
Guterres underscored the need for shared understanding among countries to help develop effective safeguards, promote innovation for the common good, and strengthen international cooperation.
The UN said the panel would serve as a global reference point, helping policymakers and the public distinguish between reliable evidence and misinformation, and grounding debates on AI in independent scientific assessment.
The initiative comes amid growing concern over the societal, economic and security risks posed by unchecked technological competition.
“We need shared understandings to build effective guardrails, unlock innovation for the common good, and foster cooperation,” Guterres said.
“The panel will help the world separate fact from fakes, and science from slop. It will provide an authoritative reference point at a moment when reliable, unbiased understanding of AI has never been more critical.”
The proposed members of the panel were selected following an open global call that attracted more than 2,600 applicants, whose expertise spanned fields including machine learning, data governance, public health, cybersecurity, child development and human rights. The chosen candidates are expected to serve in a personal capacity, independent of governments, businesses or other institutions.
The panel will operate on an accelerated timeline, with its first report due in time to inform a Global Dialogue on AI Governance scheduled for July. UN officials said the findings were expected to support international efforts to build common ground on AI governance during a period of heightened geopolitical tensions and technological rivalry.
Guterres framed the initiative as part of a broader push to ensure that AI is shaped collectively, guided by scientific evidence and global solidarity, rather than allowing its development to outpace international cooperation.
