A Chechen soldier attached an explosives device to a small drone while kneeling in a patch of yellow flowers. It is released after a short period of time. It explodes next to two mannequins, one of which has a military hat on its head.
After this and other training outside the Ukrainian capital, the Chechen soldiers, in assorted camouflage footwear and protective gear, will be heading to the front lines in Ukraine.
Chechnya is a war-scarred republic in southern Russia and its fighters are participating in the conflict in Ukranian.
The pro-Kyiv volunteers are loyal to the Chechen leader who led the republics drive for independence. They form the "Dudayev Battalion" and are the enemies of Chechen forces who back Russian President Vladimir Putin and joined Russia in the months-long siege of Mariupol and other flashpoints in eastern and southern Ukraine.
A group of new Chechens, many of whom live in Western Europe, were being trained at a firing range outside of Kyiv before heading east. The new recruits shouted Allahu akbar. They held their rifles in the air before being given military ID cards.
The Chechen battalion is not officially under the command of the national command, according to Ukrainian officials.
New battalion members are taught how to use a weapon, assume a firing position and work in teams. Trainers include veterans of wars in Chechnya that ended in 2009, as well as some who joined up in Ukraine after the fighting against Russia-backed rebels started in the country.
The volunteer who asked only to be identified by his nickname said he doesn't see differences between the two conflicts.
He spoke in English and had his face covered. If the Russians win this war, they will keep on fighting. They keep going. I'm not sure. The next countries will be the Baltics. Putin said he wanted to rebuild the Soviet empire.
Chechnya, a mostly Muslim province, was prevented from gaining independence after the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1994, there was a conflict.
The second Chechen war began in 1999 and ended in a Russian siege of Grozny, the Chechen capital. The conflict in Chechnya was declared over by the Russian government.
Muslim Madiev, a veteran fighter of the Chechen conflicts, said he was an adviser to the volunteer battalion. He joined the soldiers Saturday and took aim at a bottle with a stick. Bullets from his rifle flew into a field filled with bullets and targets.
The war is going to be won. He spoke in Russian and said the world was standing up for them.
The only ones who fought for themselves were us. Nobody stood with us. The world is behind Ukrainians. He said that they must win.
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