EUROPEAN PRAVDA – THURSDAY, 13 OCTOBER 2022, 16:31
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, believes that the risk of Russia using weapons of mass destruction directly depends on how resistant Ukraine’s Western partners are to Putin’s blackmail and whether he receives a warning of a strong response.
Source: European Pravda, quoting Zelenskyy’s interview with the German media outlet ZDF
Quote from Zelenskyy: “Russia will be afraid to use one weapon or another when everyone in Europe feels strong, and that they cannot be blackmailed with anything… He behaves like a terrorist. Europe should not act like that, because Europe is different. But you cannot show weakness in front of this leadership of the Russian Federation. It is already clear that he will keep ‘chipping away’, and a weak European position will allow him to use any weapon he wants, because there will be no consequences.”
Details: As an example, the president recalled the occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea, for which Russia received only “very superficial sanctions”. Putin perceived this as a weak response and then expanded his aggression into Donbas, and eventually went for a full-scale invasion.
“They [the Europeans] may have thought that they were meeting halfway, but when Russia meets you halfway, it’s a step back, because in this embrace, Russia will strangle you. That’s his goal and the goal of this leadership… So if he wants to use nuclear weapons, he will only use them if he knows that nothing will happen after he uses them. That’s how it works – that’s why we have always talked about preventive sanctions,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasised.
Background:
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Earlier, the media reported that a Russian nuclear strike would most likely trigger a “physical response” from Kyiv’s allies and – potentially – NATO.
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The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said that in the event of a Russian nuclear attack on Ukraine the West’s response would not be nuclear, but it would be very powerful from a military point of view.
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