The acceleration of Western arming of Kiev… and the exchange of prisoners with Moscow… and a third American warning to Turkey
Sunday – 14 Rajab 1444 AH – 05 February 2023 AD Issue Number [16140]
Paris: Michel Abu Najm – Moscow. Berlin: «Middle East»
Russia vowed to burn Ukraine, in response to arming Kyiv with Western weapons. And the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, threatened, saying: “We do not set ourselves any limits and we are ready, depending on the nature of the threats, to use all types of weapons, in accordance with the documents of our doctrine, including the basics of nuclear deterrence.”
The former Russian president said that supplying Ukraine with more advanced weapons would only lead to Moscow directing more retaliatory strikes, within the framework of the Russian nuclear doctrine. “All parts of Ukraine that are still under Kyiv’s rule will burn,” journalist Nadana Fredrickson quoted him as saying. Medvedev, Putin’s biggest ally, confirmed that “if Ukraine launches any attack on Crimea, there will be counterattacks, and the rest of the Ukrainian lands that are still under Kyiv’s control will turn into ashes.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Western sources in Paris, follows the principle of “take and demand”, and following extracting from Germany and the United States the acceptance of providing him with heavy combat tanks, he began to demand combat aircraft and long-range missiles that would enable Ukrainian forces to target Crimea and the rear positions of the Russian forces.
Meanwhile, Moscow and Kiev exchanged prisoners of war, mediated by the UAE. Russian news agencies quoted the Defense Ministry as saying that 63 Russian prisoners of war had been released, including people from a “sensitive category”. Andriy Yermak, director of the Ukrainian President’s Office, said 116 Ukrainians had been repatriated.
In a related context, Turkey received a third US warning that it might be subjected to sanctions for its economic and trade cooperation with Russia, despite the Western sanctions imposed on it.
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