Kyiv remains a key target for Russian forces in Ukraine despite attention turning to the assault in the east of the country, Ramzan Kadyrov, the powerful head of Russia's republic of Chechnya, says.
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"There will be an offensive ... not only on Mariupol, but also on other places, cities and villages," Kadyrov said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.
"Luhansk and Donetsk - we will fully liberate in the first place ... and then take Kyiv and all other cities."
Kadyrov, who has often described himself as Russian President Vladimir Putin's "foot soldier", said there should be no doubt about Kyiv.
"I assure you: not one step will be taken back," Kadyrov said.
Kadyrov has been repeatedly accused by the United States and European Union of rights abuses, which he denies.
Moscow fought two wars with separatists in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim region in southern Russia, after the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union.
But it has since poured huge sums of money into the region to rebuild it, in the process giving Kadyrov a large measure of autonomy.
The Kremlin describes its actions in Ukraine as a "special operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" its neighbour and on Sunday Russia intensified its attacks in eastern Ukraine.
Australian Associated Press
