Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said the United States should intensify pressure on Russia by mounting an operation to remove Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, like it did with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.
In comments to journalists, Zelenskyy said the operation to remove Maduro showed that Washington had the power to influence Moscow if it really wished, arguing that deposing Kadyrov would make Russian President Vladimir Putin "think twice" about his ongoing offensive on Ukraine.
U.S. special forces snatched Maduro and his wife from Caracas last Saturday, shocking Washington's allies and drawing condemnation from Venezuela's partner Moscow.
Kadyrov, the leader of Russia's Muslim-majority region of Chechnya since 2007, is one of Putin's most vocal supporters and sent thousands of soldiers to fight in Ukraine.
"They need to put pressure on Russia. They have the tools, they know how. And when they really want to, they can find them," Zelenskyy said of the United States.
"Here's an example with Maduro. They carried out an operation... Everyone can see the result, the whole world can see. They did it promptly. Let them carry out some sort of operation with, what's his name -- Kadyrov," Zelenskyy said.
Kadyrov replied in a Telegram post, saying Zelenskyy "cowardly hinted that he would not mind standing aside and watching from a safe distance as someone else punished his offender".
"Save face and don't humiliate yourself. If you had a shred of masculinity in you, you would understand how humiliating your words and requests sound," he added, addressing the Ukrainian leader.
Hours after the U.S. operation to capture Maduro, Zelenskyy had joked that Putin himself should also be targeted.
"If you can do that with dictators, then the United States knows what to do next," he said at a press conference in Kyiv over the weekend, laughing and smiling.
Ukraine, which has been battling a full-scale Russian invasion for almost four years, has long claimed its partners, including the United States, have not put enough pressure on the Kremlin to end the war.
Kadyrov, who has ruled Chechnya with an iron fist for almost two decades, has consistently advocated for Moscow to use the most extreme options in Ukraine -- even floating the idea of a nuclear strike.
