Russian National Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev, who has been called “Putin’s closest ally,” has publicly threatened that the threat of a “nuclear apocalypse” has heightened as a result of Western arms aid to Ukraine. It was a strong reaction when the United States recently announced plans to conduct F-16 fighter jet training for Ukrainian air force pilots.
According to Reuters, Deputy Chairman Medvedev, who visited Vietnam, told Russian state news agency TASS and RIA Novosti on the 23rd (local time), “The more weapons supplied to Ukraine, the more dangerous the world will be.” “The more likely it is, the more likely the so-called ‘nuclear apocalypse’ scenario will become a reality,” he warned.
“NATO is not taking this nuclear apocalypse scenario seriously. If it had, we would not have supplied the Ukrainian regime with such dangerous weapons.”
“They think a nuclear apocalypse is impossible, but that’s a mistake,” he said. He also said that if a nuclear war does break out, the responsibility will be “borne by the Ukrainian regime and its allies such as the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom that sponsor it.”
In particular, Deputy Chairman Medvedev took issue with the West’s move to support fighters. “You think everything will be fine, long-range missiles and fighter jets, but nothing is fine,” he said.
In the meantime, the United States has shown its opposition to fighter jet support despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s continued requests for fighter jet support, fearing the astronomical cost burden and the possibility of escalating the war.
However, the mood on the US side has recently changed as the war in Ukraine has stalled. On the 19th, at the G7 summit held in Hiroshima, Japan, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a policy to support Ukraine for F-16 fighter pilot training, putting weight on the possibility of Western support for Ukrainian fighters.
In response, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, “The decision was based on the belief that the war in Ukraine would be prolonged.” .
Meanwhile, Vice Chairman Medvedev also reacted strongly to the fighting that occurred in the Belgorod region in western Russia adjacent to the Ukrainian border the previous day. “Even if the Ukrainian regime spreads rubbish that this kind of sabotage (sabotage) has nothing to do with them, it is an outright lie,” he dismissed. At the same time, he denounced the saboteurs as ‘scum to be exterminated like rats’.
Shortly after the skirmish, Russia accused a Ukrainian sabotage group as being behind it, but the Russian anti-establishment group Freedom of Russia Legion claimed responsibility for the skirmish. Regarding this, the Russian Ministry of Defense held a daily briefing that day and said, “We killed more than 70 Ukrainian nationalists and pushed the rest back to Ukrainian territory” by repelling militants who had infiltrated the Belgorod region with armored vehicles.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.