A drone attack has hit the barracks of the Akhmat Kadyrov special police regiment in Chechnya, wounding four officers. Following the attack, Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov promised revenge.

Kadyrov confirmed the attack, which he claimed took place at 1:00 on 12 December, noting that the drone had been ‘shot down’ causing ‘a small fire that was quickly extinguished’. 

Writing on Telegram, Kadyrov also stated that four officers had been wounded as a result of the attack. 

The casualty figures cannot be independently verified. 

‘Just for these four wounded, we will put down 400 [Ukro-NATO supporters]’, Kadyrov wrote, promising revenge.

According to the NIYSO Telegram channel, at least five ambulances took wounded officers to a nearby hospital. 

During the same night, drone attacks also occurred in North Ossetia. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, all three ‘Ukrainian drones’ were shot down. Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack as of Thursday evening. 

The head of North Ossetia, Sergei Menyailo, also wrote about the attack on Telegram. He specified that the Mozdoksky district, which is home to a military airbase, was attacked, but claimed there were no casualties or destruction. 

These attacks mark the third drone attack in Chechnya and the third in North Ossetia since Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

In July 2024, North Ossetia was reportedly attacked twice by drones. According to Menyailo, during the first attack, ‘minor destruction and fires’ were recorded at the airfield. He later deleted his comments.

During the second attack, Menyailo claimed that ‘there were no casualties and destruction’.

Chechyna first saw a drone attack in October 2024. As a result of the strike, the roof of one of the buildings of the Special Forces University in Gudermes caught fire. Kadyrov, first denied the drone attack, but then later claimed that there was no destruction or casualties, alleging the drones hit an ‘empty’ building. He then subsequently altered his answer, claiming the building was holding ‘up to 10 Ukrainian prisoners’, some of whom were injured or killed. 

The second attack in Chechnya occurred on 4 December, when a drone targeted the 2nd police regiment building located in Grozny. Kadyrov only acknowledged the attack in the evening, and while he indicated that there were casualties as a result of the attack, he did not say how many. 

On both occasions, Kadyrov suggested that Ukrainian POWs should be used as human shields at potential military targets. Under the Geneva Convention, such treatment of prisoners can be considered a war crime.