Wagner Group, Kremlin-backed mercenaries, reportedly laid groundwork in Ukraine

If putin is so sure of his troops, why bring in belarus and chechnya?

Let me make one comment. The first casualty of War is Truth. I distrust information from all sides and too much from either side is coming straight out of their intelligence services. We know about our side, the people that brought you the Tonkin Gulf, Bay of Pigs, Weapons of Mass destruction, etc. The Russians are doing the same thing.

Kadyrovtsy, a Chechen paramilitary group with a pretty checkered past, are allegedly in or around Hostomel. They've been rumored to be on their way to or already in Ukraine for a couple of day. They videoed themselves removing the Ukrainian flag on a gate and replacing it with a Russian flag. Firstly, that's poor optics when your claim is to be freeing the Ukrainians from a neo-Nazi regime. There are multiple reports of Russians removing Ukrainian flags and replacing them with Russian flags. Secondly, the Kadyrovtsy are not nice people. While they fought against the Russians in the First Chechen War, they switched allegiance in the second and have been somewhat integrated into RU security forces and law enforcement since. There are widespread and credible accusations of war crimes perpetrated by them, to include kidnappings and murder. The group has experience in Ukraine, having participated in the Donbas in the past. This, along with the movements of heavy artillery, may represent a shift in effort or at least the ability to shift effort away from securing areas without substantial civilian casualties. Should RU become frustrated, it is well within the scope of reason that this group engages in kidnapping operations in order to instill fear and uncertainty in the civilian population.