Moscow on Thursday castigated statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who spoke of NATO's
"preventive strikes"
against Russia, Kiev then specifying that Volodymyr Zelensky was talking about preventive sanctions and not nuclear strikes.
Volodymyr Zelensky spoke Thursday during a videoconference with Australian think tank Lowy Institute.
“What should NATO do?
Eliminate the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons.
But above all, I appeal once again to the international community, as before February 24: preventive strikes, so that they know what will happen to them if they use them”
, declared the Ukrainian leader.
“Monstrous and unpredictable consequences”
"Not the other way around, waiting for nuclear strikes from Russia so you can say, 'Oh, well, you're doing this, so now take this from us!' Review its way of applying pressure, that's what NATO must do, review its way of using
it,” continued Volodymyr Zelensky.
After these declarations, the spokesman of Volodymyr Zelensky, Serguiï Nykyforov, explained that these remarks related to preventive sanctions which could have been taken against Moscow before the offensive of February 24, and not to strikes preventive military.
“The president talked about the period before February 24. It would then have been necessary to take preventive measures so as not to allow Russia to start the war. I remind you that the only measures in question at the time were sanctions
,” he posted on Facebook, saying that Kiev would
“never”
call for the use of nuclear weapons.
Several senior Russian officials strongly criticized these remarks by Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday evening.
“Such statements are nothing but a call to start a new world war with monstrous and unpredictable consequences,”
said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by the Ria Novosti agency.
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He called on the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union to react to these remarks, judging that these countries were leading
“de facto”
the actions of Kiev.
For her part, the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, accused the West
of “stirring up a nuclear war”
.
"Everyone on Earth must realize that this unhinged, weapon-packed character, Zelensky, this puppet, has turned into a monster that can destroy the planet
," she wrote on Telegram.
