Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian officials have begun
to "prepare their society" for the possible use of nuclear weapons, but
added he does not believe Russia is ready to use them.
In an interview with the BBC, President Zelensky denied having urged
strikes on Russia, claiming that an earlier remark had been
mistranslated.
"You must use preventive kicks," he said, referring to sanctions, "not
attacks".
In recent weeks, the Ukrainian army has recaptured large swathes of
territory in a successful counter-offensive that has forced Russian troops
to abandon long-held positions. In what Kyiv describes as Moscow's response
to its defeats, President Vladimir Putin has incorporated four partially
occupied regions of Ukraine.
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The annexations, widely dismissed as illegal, have raised fears of a
possible escalation in the seven-month war. President Putin and other senior
Russian officials have suggested that nuclear weapons - possibly smaller,
tactical weapons - could be used to defend those areas, although Western
officials say there has been no evidence Moscow is prepared to do so.
Speaking in English at the president's office in Kyiv, President Zelensky
said: "They begin to prepare their society. That's very dangerous.
"They are not ready to do it, to use it. But they begin to communicate.
They don't know whether they'll use or not use it. I think it's dangerous to
even speak about it."
Then, in Ukrainian, he said through a translator: "What we see is that
Russia's people in power like life and thus I think the risk of using
nuclear weapons is not that definite as some experts say, because they
understand that there is no turning back after using it, not only the
history of their country, but themselves as personalities."
However, he denied having called for strikes on Russia during an online
event on Thursday, saying the Ukrainian word he had used had been
misunderstood.
The initial comment was denounced by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as "an
appeal to start yet another world war", while Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said it demonstrated why Russia was right to launch its
operation in Ukraine.
"After that translation," President Zelensky said, "they [the Russians] did
their way, how it's useful for them, and began to retranslate it in other
directions."
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The interview happened hours after US President Joe Biden said that the
Russian threat to use nuclear weapons had brought the world closer to
"Armageddon" than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis during the Cold
War.
President Zelensky said action was needed now, as Russia's threats were a
"risk for the whole planet". Moscow, he claimed, had "made a step already"
by occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest nuclear
station which President Putin is trying to turn into Russian property.
Around 500 Russian troops were at the plant, he said, although the
Ukrainian staff still operate it.
"The world can stop urgently the actions of Russian occupiers," President
Zelensky said. "The world can implement the sanction package in such cases
and do everything to make them leave the nuclear power plant."
Empowered by sophisticated Western-supplied weapons, the Ukrainian army has
made significant advances in the east and the south, reclaiming towns and
villages even in areas the Kremlin claims are now part of Russia.
President Zelensky said Russian forces were putting up a "good enough
fight", but that Ukraine had received weapons - "I won't say we have enough
now" - and soldiers were motivated to push forward.
The Russian military's setbacks, a major embarrassment for President Putin,
have sparked unusual criticism of the country's military.
Amid the losses, President Putin announced the mobilisation of hundreds of
thousands of reservists, which led to rare anti-war protests in Russia and
to a huge exodus of military-age men.
President Zelensky urged Russians to "fight for your body, rights and
soul", saying: "Those mobilised kids now, they come with nothing. Without
guns or armour. They are being thrown here like cannon fodder... If they
want to be kebabs - fine, let them come. But if they are people after all
and think that this is their lives, they have to fight.
"Everything Putin is afraid of, and it's not the nuclear hit, he is afraid
of his community," he said. He's afraid of his people. Because only those
people are capable of replacing him nowadays. Take away his power. Give it
to someone else."
Asked whether President Putin could survive in an eventual Ukrainian win in
the war, he said: "I don't care."
Copy paste: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63173443
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