The Kremlin raised the issue again use of nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine, as Russian forces struggled to hold a key city in the south of the country.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former president of Russia who is the vice-president of the country’s Security Council, said that Moscow could strike against an enemy that uses only conventional weapons, while his defense minister Vladimir Putin claimed that nuclear “readiness” was a priority.
“We have a special document on nuclear deterrence. This document clearly indicates the reasons why the Russian Federation is entitled to use nuclear weapons. There are some of them, let me remind you: The number one is the situation when Russia is hit by a nuclear missile. The second case is any use of other nuclear weapons against Russia or its allies. The third is an attack on a critical infrastructure that will have paralyzed our nuclear deterrents. “And the fourth case is when there is an act of aggression against Russia and its allies, which endangered the existence of the country itself, even without the use of nuclear weapons, that is, with the use of conventional weapons,” he said.
Medvedev added that Russia is determined to defend its independence and sovereignty. “Let us not give anyone a reason to doubt, even in the slightest, that we are ready to give a worthy response to any violation of our country, of its independence,” he added.
For his part, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who had been “missing” for 12 days, spoke today about the nuclear threat contained in Russia’s arsenal.
In a video posted on social media by the Russian Ministry of Defense, Shoigu said he had discussed with the Ministry of Finance issues related to the military budget and defense orders.
“We continue to deliver weapons and equipment in advance through credit. “The priorities are long-range, high-precision weapons, aircraft equipment and maintaining the readiness of the strategic nuclear forces.”
Saturday’s comments pushed the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyin a video link to the Doha Forum in Qatar to warn that Moscow is an immediate threat to the world.
“Russia boasts that it can destroy with nuclear weapons, not just one country but the whole planet,” Zelensky said.
It is recalled that Putin had threatened to use nuclear weapons at the beginning of the war, warning that a possible Western intervention would have “consequences you have never seen.”
Western officials have said the threats may be just an attempt by Russia to divert attention from the failure of Putin’s forces to secure a swift occupation of Kiev, and to make progress in other key areas of the country.
An adviser to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, Markian Lubkivskyi, said on Saturday that Russia would soon lose control of the southern city of Kherson, the first major center to fall to the Kremlin since the start of the war on February 24.
“I believe that today the city will be completely under the control of the Ukrainian armed forces. “We have completed the last two days of operations in the Kiev region, so the other armed forces are now concentrating on the southern part, trying to liberate Kherson and some other cities in Ukraine,” he said.
Russia has about 6,000 nuclear warheads, the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.
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