Russia claims Ukraine is “saturated” with catastrophic armaments as a rationale to continue its two-month invasion of its neighboring country and a former member of the Soviet Union.
Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev raised the allegations that Kyiv is creating a wide array of weapons of mass destruction despite a lack of proof to show to the world.
“The need for demilitarization is due to the fact that Ukraine, saturated with weapons, poses a threat to Russia, including from the point of view of the development and use of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons,” Patrushev said on Tuesday, according to Russian news agencies.
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Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters the threat of nuclear war is real and should not be underestimated.
Russia is believed to have thousands of nuclear warheads, while Ukraine, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, gave up all its nuclear weapons in a 1994 deal in which the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia guaranteed its safety. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin has experienced setbacks during his invasion of Ukraine, his forces have superior military might. The U.S. and its allies are providing a steady flow of billions of dollars of military aid to Ukraine to help its forces defend their country, but they have not sent troops into Ukraine for fear of escalation.
While there have been assertions on the Russian side that Ukraine is developing nuclear weapons, the United Nations’s nuclear watchdog has insisted there is no evidence to support the claim. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba argued Lavrov was trying to “scare the world off supporting Ukraine” after a series of military failures in Russia’s invasion, according to Fox News.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he does not believe the invasion will end in a nuclear war but noted the escalating rhetoric is unproductive.
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“You know, we’ve said over and over again that a nuclear war cannot be won by either side. And so I think saber-rattling and rhetoric like that is just unhelpful,” Austin said, according to the Hill. “[However] Ukraine has a right to protect itself. And we’re going to continue to support Ukraine.”
Western intelligence officials have warned that Russia could use nuclear weapons in Ukraine after the Kremlin placed its nuclear arsenal on heightened alert. Lavrov said last week that Russia will use “conventional weapons only.”
