President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia would use all weapons at its disposal against Ukraine if Kyiv were to acquire nuclear arms. The NYT reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.
“If the country which we are essentially at war with now becomes a nuclear power, what do we do? We will use all means of destruction available to Russia,” Putin said at a presser in Kazakhstan. “If officially someone were to transfer something, then that would mean a violation of all the non-proliferation commitments they have made,” Putin said. He also said it was practically impossible for Ukraine to produce a nuclear weapon, but that it might be able to make some kind of “dirty bomb”, a conventional bomb laced with radioactive material. In that case, Russia would respond appropriately, he said.
Putin also said that Russia may use its new Oreshnik hypersonic missile to attack “decision-making centres” in Kyiv in response to Ukraine’s firing of Western missiles at Russian territory. Russia has not so far struck Ukrainian ministries, parliament or president’s office in the 33-month war.
Kyiv is heavily protected by air defences, but Putin says the Oreshnik, which Russia fired for the first time at a Ukrainian city last week, is “incapable of being intercepted”. “At present, the ministry of defence and the general staff are selecting targets. These could be military facilities, defence and industrial enterprises, or decision-making centres in Kyiv.”
Putin praised US Prez-elect Trump as an experienced and intelligent politician, but said he did not believe he was safe. Putin said he had been shocked by the way the US election campaign had unfolded. He cited “the absolutely uncivilised methods used to battle against Trump, up to and including an assassination attempt -and more than once”. Talking about what he described as Biden office’s decision to escalate the war by allowing Kyiv to strike Russia with Western missiles, Putin speculated that it could be a ploy to either help Trump by giving him something to roll back or a way of making his life more difficult with Russia. Either way, Putin said he thought Trump would “find the solution” and said Moscow was ready for dialogue.