Chechen leader Kadyrov is calling for deployment of 85,000 troops to counter Ukrainian counterattack

Reactions to the defeat of the Russian Army in Kharkiv continue. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is calling for the training and deployment of 85,000 troops to counter Ukrainian counterattacks.

Kadyrov said there is an immediate need for 85,000 new soldiers on the battlefield, or a "minimum" of 1,000 trained soldiers from each region. The urgency comes as Ukrainians recapture territory along with equipment.

Kadyrov said the 1,000 volunteers were "not such a big number" and even a "minimum" amount that could help the military effort in the short term. It would not require the Kremlin to declare martial law, he added.

"The head of each region of Russia today must prove his readiness to help the state... The question of solving the problems of a special enterprise could be closed as soon as possible, " Kadyrov said

1,500 soldiers have been sent to Ukraine from a huge Russian military base in Tajikistan and neighboring Kyrgyzstan

About 600 more troops are to be sent to the front line from Russian military facilities located in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe and the southern city of Bokhtar

At the same time, hundreds of contract soldiers have been deployed to Ukraine from Russia's Kant air base in neighboring Kyrgyzstan in recent months, according to residents, activists and soldiers' relatives.

Both Central Asian countries host one Russian base each with multiple installations in various locations.

The number of Russian personnel in Tajikistan is estimated at 7,000 troops, while Kyrgyzstan hosts about 500 Russian troops. Exact figures have not been made public.