Pro-Russian Chechen units currently number about 9,000 fighters in the war against Ukraine, according to the UK Ministry of Defense. These pro-Russian Chechen forces have been engaged in combat with Ukraine since 2014. Additional Chechen formations were deployed to Ukraine at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. However, suffering heavy losses from the outset, Chechen units were primarily relegated to rear security and ridiculed as TikTok soldiers for their social media posts. After the withdrawal of the Russian private military company Wagner from the front in May 2023, Chechen …