One of Volodymyr Zelensky’s closest advisers has warned Vladimir Putin that dropping the bomb on Ukraine would start a nuclear weapons race throughout the world.
Mikhailo Podolyak, a significant counsellor to the president of Ukraine, said that nuclear-armed nations must prevent Russia from carrying out threats to destroy the second-largest European nation.
“Vladimir Putin has gone to war against a non-nuclear state,” Mr. Podolyak told The Telegraph. He threatens to deploy nuclear weapons because he knows he can’t win a conventional conflict.
Every non-nuclear state will declare, “I’m getting the bomb,” if he gets away with it.
The only assurance for national defence will be nuclear weapons, he said. Alternately, it will be shown that you can utilise the bomb aggressively.
The issue is not our concern at that time. It affects the whole world. The nuclear powers of the world are affected by it. The nuclear deterrent is over.
Also promising to continue its counteroffensive against Russia was Mr. Podolyak.
Yesterday, a steadfast Putin friend warned that Russia will defend the land it holds in Ukraine with its biggest and most potent nuclear weapons.
The regions will become a part of Russia when referendums are conducted this week, according to Dmitry Medvedev, who stood in for Putin from 2008 to 2012. Following that, ‘any Russian armaments’ will be employed to protect them.
According to Medvedev, this includes “strategic nuclear weapons” like Putin’s massive new Sarmat missile and “weapons based on new principles,” which is probably a reference to hypersonic technology, which the Kremlin believes is immune to air defences.
The Western elite and all NATO nation-state residents need to comprehend that Russia has taken its own course. There is no turning back, he said.
It comes amid reports that mercenaries with guns are securing voting places while armed police are canvassing neighbourhoods as Russia holds phoney referendums in the seized territory of Ukraine.
The ‘voting’ on whether or not to become Russian provinces is now taking place in the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, with Moscow fixing the results.
Kremlin officials, military police, and hired shooters are keeping a close check on the procedure, however, just to be extra sure. Ukrainian MPs have claimed that they are kicking in front doors to compel people to cast their votes.
Several towns under Russian control, according to Serhiy Haidai, the governor of occupied Luhansk, have been completely blocked off to guarantee that citizens vote, with any crosses in the “no” column being noted in a “notebook.”
A staggering 97% of residents in two of those territories, Donetsk and Luhansk, have reportedly expressed support for joining Russia, according to official media.
Additionally, polling places have been created around Russia itself, purportedly to help displaced Ukrainians to cast ballots but really providing additional opportunity for vote-rigging.
Western politicians have branded the referendums a fraud and urged foreign nations to refuse to recognise the results, claiming they lack legitimacy.
The results of the ballots had “already been chosen,” according to Melinda Simmons, the British ambassador to Ukraine. She also called the “fake” referendums a “media exercise aimed to push further an unlawful invasion by Russia.”
The votes still represent a turning point in the conflict since Putin will now be able to persuade his own people that any attempt by the Ukrainians to retake those territory constitutes an attack on Russia itself.
That increases the range of alternatives he has for responding.
The fact that Russia’s policy permits the use of nuclear weapons in the event that the state’s survival is endangered is perhaps the most concerning.
Additionally, it would give Putin the opportunity to turn his “special military operation” into a full-fledged conflict, enhancing his ability to enlist personnel and punish any who attempt to leave.
He announced a “partial mobilisation” of the Russian populace this week and looks determined to draught hundreds of thousands of individuals into the military.
Due to recent legislation, soldiers’ contracts are now indefinite, making it impossible for them to voluntarily leave the military.
The fearsome nuclear arsenal at Putin’s disposal as he menaces the West includes “unstoppable” hypersonic missiles, underwater drones, and artillery capable of launching nuclear shells.