MIKHAIL METZEL / AFP
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council and former President Dmitry Medvedev assures that Russia will use nuclear weapons if Ukraine tries to reconquer Crimea.
WAR IN UKRAINE – The Kremlin will stop at nothing to defend the Crimea. During an interview with several Russian media this Friday, March 24, the Vice-President of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev ensured that the army was ready to use “any weapon” if kyiv tried to recover the territory annexed in 2014.
“In the event of serious offensives aimed at recapturing Crimea, it is absolutely clear that this will serve as the basis for the use of all means of protection, including those provided by the basic doctrine of nuclear deterrence”assured the former head of state, according to the Russian agency close to the Kremlin Tass. “An attempt to split part of the Russian state would be to encroach on the existence of the state itself”reports the propaganda organ.
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The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has warned that Ukraine’s attempt to retake Crim… https://t.co/hYf8a3uO9L
— TASS (@tassagency_en)
“Therefore, draw your own conclusions: there are obvious reasons to use any weapon. Absolutely any”warned Dmitry Medvedev again less than a week after a surprise visit of Vladimir Putin in Crimea. “I hope our ‘friends’ across the ocean realize this,” he again pressed to the attention of the United States.
“Crimea is our land”, hammers Zelensky
In January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he intended to take back Crimea during a speech before the Davos Forum. “Crimea is our land, our territory, our sea and our mountains (…). Give us your weapons and we will get our lands back,” he had hammered in front of the leaders of the whole world. For its part, the Kremlin keeps repeating that this territory has always been Russian and will remain so.
For Dimitri Medvedev, the will expressed by kyiv to recover the Crimea is only a show. “All kinds of statements about the recovery [de la péninsule] or something else… You see, it’s propaganda and it should be treated as such. It always happens in times of war.”he explained.
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These new statements from Moscow come as Russia suspects Ukraine of wanting to carry out a counter-offensive in Bakhmoutwhere fierce fighting has been going on for several weeks, at the cost of many lives on both sides. ” They [la partie ukrainienne] are preparing for an offensive, everyone knows that. Our staff calculates this and prepares its own solutions ”Dmitry Medvedev told Russian media.
A palpable tension on the Russian side
In an interview published on Thursday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s private Wagner militia, warned that Russia accordingly planned to surround Ukrainian military forces in the city, before concentrating its forces on the partially occupied region of Zaporitzhia, reports The Guardian. The military says that 80,000 Russian soldiers are ready.
Volodymyr Zelensky says his troops will continue to defend the city at all costs, which has become a powerful symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
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Tension is palpable on the Russian side as Western arms shipments have been pouring into Ukraine in recent weeks. Just yesterday, Slovakia delivered four Soviet fighter planes in kyiv. Other aircraft, including some from Poland, will be received in the coming weeks.
This European support is boosting Ukrainian forces, which have overcome more than 30,000 Russian soldiers in Bakhmout, according to Western officials. “Very soon we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we have done in the past near kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliia and Kupyansk”said Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, in reference to previous successful Ukrainian attacks.
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