Russia has threatened to use nukes multiple time to deter Western aid to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 (Picture: AP / Reuters)
Putin’s top crony said ‘Russia is showing patience’ by not wielding nuclear weapons in response to Ukraine’s ongoing Kursk offensive.
Ukraine claims to control nearly 500 square miles of Russian territory after launching a cross-border incursion that took even Kyiv’s allies by surprise.
It’s complicated any attempt to freeze the conflict along current battle lines and strengthened Ukraine’s hand in potential negotiations for territorial exchanges.
But it’s also part of Ukraine’s growing efforts to bring the war to Russia’s doorstep with drones attacks on Russian cities and infrastructure, and by occupying land.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been meeting with US President Joe Biden to discuss whether to grant Ukraine permission to use their long-range missiles to strike targets within Russia’s internationally recognised borders.
It’s long been a request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who wants the capacity to strike Russian launchpads firing missiles at Ukraine from over the border.
Playing on Western fears of escalation, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to turn Kyiv into ‘a giant gray melted spot’.
Russia launched its nuclear-capable Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile in a test on April 20, 2022 (Picture: Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service via AP)
In a post on Telegram on Saturday, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council said: ‘A nuclear conflict is really not needed by anyone.
‘This is a very bad story with a very difficult outcome. That is why the decision to use nuclear weapons (non-strategic or even more so strategic) has not been made so far.
‘Although, frankly speaking, there are formal prerequisites for this, understandable to the entire world community and consistent with our doctrine of nuclear deterrence.
‘The same Kursk, for example. But Russia is showing patience.
‘After all, it is obvious that a nuclear response is an extremely difficult decision with irreversible consequences.
‘However, the pompous Anglo-Saxon imbeciles do not want to admit one thing: any patience comes to an end
‘And in the end, those moderate Western analysts who warned will be right: “Yes, the Russians will most likely not respond in this way… although there is still a possibility. Besides, the response could also be using new means of delivery in non-nuclear equipment.”
‘And then that’s it. A giant gray melted spot on the site of the mother city of Russia.’
President Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak responded by saying: ‘Loud threats of Putin’s regime testify only to his fear that terror may come to an end.’
The nuclear sabre rattling comes as Russia and Ukraine exchanged 103 prisoners of war each in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.
Russians captured in Ukraine’s invasion of Kursk are among them.
Sharing an image of freed Ukrainian soldiers, President Zelenskyy said: ‘Our people are home.’
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