‘All of Ukraine will burn’ because of US supplies: Russia’s Medvedev
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Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that supplying Ukraine with more advanced weapons from the United States will not end the war, but will only prolong it and lead to more retaliatory strikes from Russia, within the limits of the Russian nuclear doctrine.
He was quoted by journalist Nadana Fredrickson as saying in a written interview with her, “All of Ukraine that is still under Kyiv’s rule will burn.”
Frederiksson Medvedev, who has become the vice president of the Security Council and one of Russia’s most hawkish pro-war figures since its invasion of Ukraine, asked if the use of long-range weapons might force Russia to negotiate with Kyiv.
“The result will be exactly the opposite,” Medvedev responded in comments posted by Frederikson on her Telegram channel.
“Only moral freaks, of which there are enough both in the White House and the Capitol, can argue this way.”
The Pentagon said on Friday that a new missile that would double the range of Ukraine strikes was included in a $2.175 billion US military aid package.
As the first anniversary of the invasion approaches on February 24, Russian forces have been lagging behind for the past eight months. They do not fully control any of the four unilaterally declared Ukrainian Moscow provinces as part of Russia.
President Vladimir Putin views Russia’s campaign in Ukraine as an existential defense against an aggressive West. He, like Medvedev, several times waved the threat of a nuclear response, saying that Russia would use all available means to protect itself and its people.
Asked what would happen if the weapons Washington promised Ukraine hit Crimea – which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 – or deep inside Russia, Medvedev said Putin had taken up the matter.
“We do not set ourselves any limits and depending on the nature of the threats, we are ready to use all kinds of weapons. With our doctrinal documents, including the basics of nuclear deterrence,” he said. “I can assure you that the answer will be fast, hard and convincing.”
Russia’s nuclear doctrine allows for a nuclear strike after “aggression against the Russian Federation with conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is threatened.”