The United States takes Russian President Vladimir’s threat “seriously”
Putin from using nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war, a White House spokesman said on Wednesday, announcing “serious consequences” if it advances in that direction.
“It’s irresponsible rhetoric from a nuclear power,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in an interview on ABC.
(In context: President Putin threatens to use nuclear weapons: ‘not bragging’)
“We are monitoring their strategic posture as best we can so that we can modify ours if necessary. We haven’t seen any indication that that’s necessary at this time.“, he added.
(Also read: Russian Defense Minister announces that 300,000 reservists will be mobilized)
Putin’s announcement
Russian President Vladimir Putin put the Russians on a war footing on Wednesday by decreeing the partial mobilization of 300,000 Russian reservists for the war in Ukraine, a measure that seeks to counteract what he called “nuclear blackmail” by NATO, which aims to “destroy” Russia.
“Today our Armed Forces act along a battle line that exceeds a thousand kilometers, fighting not only against neo-Nazi formations, but practically against the military machine of the collective West,” Putin said during a televised speech.
(Of interest: Russia acknowledges almost 6,000 dead in its ranks in military campaign in Ukraine)
The measure, a “desperate” reaction, according to the European Union itself, is clearly a recognition of the failure of the “special military operation” in Ukraine, which in almost seven months of fighting has not achieved its main objective, to conquer Donbas. , and has even ceded territory in the Kharkov and Lugansk regions in recent weeks.
For the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the mobilization is “a tragedy, first of all, for the Russian people”, and also a result of the “inability of the professional Army” of Russiasaid his spokesman Serhiy Nikiforov today, without mentioning it.
(Also read: Russia calls reservists for war in Ukraine: if they refuse they will go to jail)
Putin, according to analysts, admitted with this measure for the first time that his country is at war, although the head of the Kremlin insists that Russian soldiers are not only fighting with Ukraine, but also with its Western allies.
The mobilization follows the call for this Friday of integration referendums with Russia in the self-proclaimed popular republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and in the occupied territories of southern Ukraine in the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia, consultations already condemned by the international community.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP and EFE
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