Russia WILL use nukes to defend ‘new territories’ in Ukraine, Medvedev says
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Russia will use its largest and most powerful nuclear weapons to defend the territory it occupies in Ukraine, a staunch ally of Vladimir Putin has insisted today.
Dmitry Medvedev, who served as Putin’s stand-in from 2008 to 2012, vowed that the areas will become part of Russia when referendums are held this week, after which “all Russian weapons” will be used to defend them.
That includes “strategic nuclear weapons” like Putin’s massive new Sarmat missile, Medvedev said, and “weapons based on new principles” — likely a reference to hypersonic technology that the Kremlin claims is invulnerable to air defense.
‘The Western Establishment’ [and] all citizens of NATO countries must understand that Russia has chosen its own path. There is no going back,” he added.
Russia will use its largest nuclear weapons to defend its new territories in Ukraine, a staunch Putin ally has said (photo, Sarmat nuclear missile)
Dmitry Medvedev, head of the Russian Security Council, said Russia’s hypersonic weapons could hit the West when he issued a new threat today
Medvedev spoke out a day after Putin delivered a fire-and-sulphur speech in which he expressed a new nuclear threat against the West and told world leaders, “I’m not bluffing.”
But Liz Truss, the British Prime Minister, hit back in a speech to the UN last night, telling Putin that the West would not be “shocked” by nuclear blackmail.
She pledged billions more to support Ukraine and said Britain would not stop arming the country until Russia is defeated.
US President Joe Biden was similarly defiant, promising that the West will “stand in solidarity against Russian aggression, period.”
He added: “A nuclear war cannot be won and should never be fought.”
Putin yesterday also announced the “partial mobilization” of Russia’s military reserves, including those with combat experience and “special skills” needed by the military.
It marks the first time since World War II that Russia has pushed its people into the military, and comes in the wake of another humiliating defeat.
Ukraine won a major victory last week by leading the Russian army east of Kharkov, leaving troops fighting for control of the Donbas vulnerable.
Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defense minister, said 300,000 Russian men will now be conscripted and sent to the front — twice the size of the initial invasion force — in hopes of stopping the rot and engulfing the entire Donbas region. to take.
Putin has been forced to call up his military reserves as his war in Ukraine failed, leaving young Russian men trying to flee the country last night
Queues of cars trying to leave Russia form on country’s border with Georgia hours after Putin announced mobilization
Videos have revealed what today appear to be the first busloads of men departing from some of Russia’s most remote regions for the front lines.
But experts and analysts have said the reinforcements are unlikely to turn the tide of the war in Putin’s favour, even hurting him by infuriating the population.
Overnight, there were protests in about 30 Russian cities against the war, with hundreds of people being arrested.
Thousands more attempted to flee the country to escape the draft, with airline tickets to visa-free countries selling out within hours.
Massive traffic jams and queues also sprang up overnight at border points as social media was flooded with posts – including women threatening to break their husbands’ bones to make them unfit to fight.
Russia has now spent nearly seven months in what should have been a days-long war to overthrow the Ukrainian government and install a loyal puppet in its place.
Instead, Putin has engaged in a grinding war of attrition against a tenacious enemy, backed by Western weapons and money.
His army has made some gains – conquering territory in the south and east equal to the size of Belgium – and now seems to be trying to consolidate.
Putin yesterday announced referendums to be held in the occupied territories of Ukraine on whether or not to join the mainland.
A man is carried away by security personnel in Moscow tonight as thousands took to the streets to protest the war and the mobilization of reservists
A woman is carried away in Moscow tonight by Russian police during a demonstration against the Russian president’s latest escalation in the conflict in Ukraine
A man is being dragged away by Russian security forces tonight at a protest in Moscow against Vladimir Putin’s order to mobilize military reservists
When – and not if – the mock votes succeed, he promised us ‘every means’ to defend them.
That deterred nuclear experts, as Russia’s long-standing policy is that it can use nuclear weapons to defend itself in the event of an “existential threat” to the country.
Putin suggested that attacks on the “new areas” could be considered such a threat, which was underlined by Medvedev today.
He wrote on Telegram: ‘Results of the decisions of the Supreme Commander of 21-09-22
‘1. Referendums will be held and the Donbass Republics and other territories will be admitted to Russia.
‘2. The protection of all areas that have acceded will be significantly strengthened by the Russian armed forces.
‘3. Russia has announced that not only mobilization capabilities, but also all Russian weapons, including strategic nuclear weapons and weapons based on new principles, can be used for such protection.
Therefore, several retired idiots with general stripes need not scare us by talking about a NATO attack on Crimea.
‘Hypersonics can certainly reach goals much faster in Europe and the United States.
“But the Western establishment, in general, all citizens of NATO countries must understand that Russia has chosen its own path. There’s no turning back.’