Day 226: Zelenskyy Calls for 'Preventative' Nuclear Strike Against Russia While Biden Warns of Nuclear 'Armageddon'
Facts
- Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday called for NATO allies to launch a nuclear first strike against Russia: "What must NATO do?" he said. "I am once again turning to the international community as I did before 24 February. Preventative strikes, so that they [Russia] know what will await if they use [a nuclear weapon]. Not the other way round."
- Serhii Nykyforov, Zelenskyy's Press Sec., claimed the Ukrainian leader was referring to "preventative sanctions," but this suggestion was rejected by Russian representatives. On Friday, Russian FM Sergei Lavrov said Zelenskyy's comments "essentially presented the world with further evidence of the threats posed by the Kyiv regime. This is why a special military operation was launched to neutralize them."
- Elsewhere, US Pres. Joe Biden told a Democratic fundraiser in New York: "We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis." He added, in reference to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin: "He's not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming."
- Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova rejected the accusation. "We do not intend to participate in this terrible discourse, in this escalation of nuclear rhetoric, with tensions climbing up point by point each time," she said, adding: "We have repeatedly said and confirmed this: there can be no winners in such a war and it should never be unleashed."
- On the ground, while pro-Russia separatists from the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) claimed to have captured three settlements in the region, a Ukrainian strike on a bridge in the Kherson region killed five civilians and injured five others. Russian media reported that the strike occurred while a bus was crossing the bridge near the village of Darivka.
- Meanwhile, the death toll from a Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia on Thursday has risen to 11, with a further 13 people injured. Ukrainian officials said 15 people were also reported missing. A further civilian was reported killed in Zaporizhzhia, while two people were killed in Mykolaiv and one in Kherson. On Friday, renewed Russian strikes were reported in Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia with no additional reports of civilian casualties at this stage.
Sources: Pravda, Reuters, Guardian, Tass, and Ukrinform.
Narratives
- Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by Foreign Affairs. Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin is effectively taking the world hostage with his increasingly alarmist nuclear rhetoric. He has created an apocalyptic ultimatum: either he wins in Ukraine or he'll ensure the globe faces nuclear annihilation.
- Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by Tass. Russia has consistently reaffirmed that there are no winners in a nuclear war and that such a conflict must never be unleashed. America is whipping up a frenzy with its nuclear rhetoric and anti-Russian aggression.