Russia Warns Of Nuclear War With NATO After Ukraine’s ATACMS Strikes: ‘We’re Not Bluffing’
Vladimir Putin’s close ally Dmitry Medvedev issued his latest nuclear threat against the West following reports multiple NATO countries have given Ukraine the go-ahead to use their weapons to strike inside of Russia.
Russia‘s former president and current deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council warned his country being hit by Western-supplied weapons could be seen by the Kremlin as a casus belli with the capacity to spark a war with NATO.
Ukraine using Western-supplied weapons to strike inside of Russia, he warned, would be seen by the Kremlin as a direct participation of NATO in the conflict.
Medvedev said: “This is no military assistance, this is participation in a war against us. And such actions could well become a casus belli [an act that provokes a war].”
He said: “Ukraine and its NATO allies will receive a response of such destructive force that the Alliance itself simply will not be able to resist being drawn into the conflict.”
The prominent Russian official went on to warn the West not to underestimate Moscow’s readiness to use tactical nuclear weapons.
Medvedev suggested Russia could strike hostile countries with strategic weapons, saying: “This is, alas, neither intimidation nor bluffing.
“The current military conflict with the West is developing according to the worst possible scenario. There is a constant escalation when it comes to the firepower of NATO weapons being used. Therefore, nobody today can rule out the conflict’s transition to its final stage.”
The former Russian president then referred to the chilling remark made by Putin earlier this week, when he warned of the “serious consequences” if Western weapons are allowed in attacks on Russian soil.
Putin said during a visit to Uzbekistan: “In Europe, especially in small countries, they should realise what they are playing with. They should remember that they are countries with small, densely populated territories… This is a factor they should keep in mind before talking about striking Russia.”
In his latest warning, shared via the messaging platform Telegram, Medvedev added: “After all, as the President of Russia rightly noted, European countries have a very high population density.”
Medvedev’s comments came shortly after reports saying US President Joe Biden has allowed Kyiv to use American weapons, but not the long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), to strike inside of Russia – only with the purpose of defending Kharkiv.
The second-largest Ukrainian city and its surroundings have been the target of a massive Russian attack since May 10.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the decision would help protect civilians living in villages close to the Russian border.
Medvedev’s words came as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said NATO countries had entered “a new round of escalating tension and they are doing this deliberately” and they were “in every possible way provoking Ukraine to continue this senseless war”.
The remarks also came after Ukraine reportedly used US-supplied ATACMS to strike the Kerch ferry crossing in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
