Russia and Putin seem not to be backing down in their continued invasion of Ukraine in spite of the heavy sanctions by the West, as the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov revealed that the use of nuclear weapons is not ruled out, and will be used in the event of an “existential threat” AFP reports.
According to the report, the spokesman for Kremlin Dmitry Peskov while speaking to CNN International on Tuesday stated that Moscow will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine only in the event of an “existential threat” against Russia.
“We have an internal security doctrine, it’s public, you can read there all the reasons for the use of nuclear weapons. And if it’s an existential threat to our country, then they can be used in agreement with our doctrine,” Dmitry Peskov said.
CNN International journalist Christiane Amanpour asked the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov to say whether he was “confident” or “convinced” that Russian President Vladimir Putin, to whom he is very close, would not use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
No signs of a nuclear escalation
A few days after the start of the war launched on February 24, and while the Russian army encountered unexpected resistance from the Ukrainian security forces, the Russian president had put all the components of the nuclear deterrent force on alert , triggering a chorus of international protests.
The fears relate in particular to the possible use by Moscow of small-scale nuclear weapons. “We are monitoring this daily and as best we can. We have seen nothing that leads us to conclude that we need to change our strategic deterrence posture,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday.
According to the US Department of Defense, the Ukrainian army, which retains control of the major urban centres, has even been in a position in recent days to carry out some counter-offensives which have enabled it, in the south in particular, to regain ground. on Russian troops.
Dmitry Peskov denies war crimes charges
The operations “are continuing strictly in accordance with what was planned,” Dmitri Peskov told CNN International on the contrary. According to the spokesman, the Russian army continues to seek to “eliminate the military potential of Ukraine”, one of the “main objectives of the operation”.
To do this, Russian forces “target only military objectives and objects on the territory of Ukraine, not civilian (objectives),” he said, despite widely documented accusations from NGOs and relayed by several governments, notably British and American, of attacks on civilians.
An “occupation” of Ukraine is also not among the Kremlin’s objectives, he continued. Military experts believe that the Russian army is suffering from logistical and communication problems.