An official in a Russian-occupied region of Ukraine suggested Russia’s defense minister should shoot himself because of his army’s failings, an unusually blunt and public rebuke of Kremlin leadership.
Confusion and recriminations marked the Russian efforts to call up draftees and claim sovereignty over Ukrainian territory, as well as the Russian response to battlefield setbacks.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya, is facing U.S. sanctions and accused of brutal abuses. Yet some fighters and others who work with the U.F.C. have kept ties with him.