Russia is ominously warning Ukraine not to think about using the long-range missiles Joe Biden gave them. Don’t even think about thinking about it, they diplomatically advise. They don’t even need to change their policy on nuclear weapon use. Moscow can pull something out from “its new, non-nuclear arsenal” toy box and use it on Kyiv. “And that would be it. A giant, gray, melted spot instead of ‘the mother of Russian cities,‘” Dmitry Medvedev declares.
Russia gets serious
Up until now, Vladimir Putin claims, Russia has been fighting a fairly low key kind of war. The new long-range missiles Ukraine got from the United States and UK are a game changer.
Russian officials just “threatened Western nations with an unchecked escalation of war.” They’re ready to throw the rule book in the trash and use nuclear weapons.
The Kremlin has been seriously kicking around the idea of loosening their self-imposed restrictions to allow the “preemptive” use of nuclear weapons.
It will take a while to grind the paperwork through the mill. Meanwhile, Russia can still accomplish “the all-out destruction of Kyiv” without resorting to thermonuclear mayhem.
The way their Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergey Ryabkov, puts it, “Western leaders had already decided whether to allow Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles and had informed Kyiv.”
It seems Russia has spies in Zelenskyy’s inner circle. That forces “Moscow to respond with its own actions.” That response is expected to be drastic.
It won’t be pretty
Ryabkov was hopping up and down as he shouted “the decision has been made.” Zelenskyy has been given “carte blanche” and “all indulgences have been given” to Kyiv. That means, Ryabkov snarled, “we are ready for everything and we will react in a way that will not be pretty.” He wants that phrase taken literally.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has a grim prediction if “Ukraine is allowed to strike deeper into Russia with NATO-supplied long-range missiles.”
Medvedev currently serves as deputy chairman of their Security Council. Russia, he calmly points out, “could also use some of its new, non-nuclear arsenals to wipe Kyiv off the map.” He made the observation public on Telegram. “And that would be it. A giant, gray, melted spot instead of ‘the mother of Russian cities.‘”
The United States and Britain admit they are having discussions “on whether to relax restrictions surrounding the use of Western supplied weapons.” Moscow is convinced the decision’s been made and Zelenskyy’s been given the green light already.
After the big meeting Friday in Washington they claimed they “did not reach a decision on any policy changes regarding the weapons, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insists are vital to achieving victory in the ongoing war with Russia.”
Putin “warned Thursday that allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles supplied by NATO nations to strike further inside Russian territory would amount to the Western nations being ‘directly involved’ in the war.” Washington and London could end up as gray stains, too.
