Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made it clear that he takes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats seriously. “Maybe yesterday it was a bluff. Now it might be reality,” Zelensky told CBS News in an interview published on Sunday, according to the translation. The US warned Russia that it would have “catastrophic consequences” if it used nuclear weapons once morest Ukraine.
Referring to the skirmishes surrounding Russia’s occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the Ukrainian president said: “He (Putin) wants to scare the whole world. These are the first steps of his nuclear blackmail. I don’t think he’s bluffing.”
On Wednesday Putin announced the mobilization of 300,000 reservists for the war of aggression once morest Ukraine – he also said: “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will definitely use all available means to protect Russia and our people. That is no bluff.” Observers saw it as a threat to use nuclear weapons.
US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told the broadcaster on Sunday that the US government had told the Kremlin “directly, privately, at a very high level” that any use of nuclear weapons would have catastrophic consequences for Russia. Russia had also been warned that the US and its allies would respond decisively.
