Russian President Vladimir Putin says the West is doing everything it can to inflict a strategic defeat on Moscow in Ukraine.
The United States made no adjustments to its nuclear stance following Russia’s stationing of nuclear weapons in Belarus, and has criticized statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow could “in theory” use nuclear weapons if there was a threat to its territorial integrity or existence.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday Washington had not changed its nuclear stance when Putin confirmed for the first time that Russia had deployed nuclear weapons in Belarus.
“We have no reason to adjust our own nuclear stance. “We see no signs that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon,” Blinken said.
Blinken said it was “ironic” that Putin had stationed Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus, even though the Russian leader justified his invasion of Ukraine by saying he wanted to prevent Kiev from obtaining such weapons.
At Russia’s annual economic forum in St. Petersburg on Friday, Putin said Russian tactical nuclear warheads had already been delivered to close ally Belarus, but stressed that he saw no need for Russia to resort to nuclear weapons for the time being.
“The first nuclear warheads were delivered on the territory of Belarus. But only the first, the first part. But we will fully complete this work by the end of the summer or by the end of the year,” Putin said.
The Russian leader said the deployment of the warheads – the first outside of Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union – was intended as a warning to the West to arm and support Ukraine. The West, he said, is doing everything it can to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia in Ukraine.
“It’s just an element of deterrence, so that anyone thinking about inflicting a strategic defeat on us would not be aware of that fact,” Putin said.
But for now, Russia has no reason to resort to nuclear weapons, he said, adding that talks with the West about reducing Russia’s vast nuclear arsenal are not an option.
“Nuclear weapons were made to ensure our security in the broadest sense of the word and the existence of the Russian state, but we… have no such need.” [to use them]’ said Putin.
“I’m just talking about it [the potential use of nuclear weapons] lowers the nuclear threshold. We have more than the NATO countries and they want to reduce our numbers. Fuck it,” he said.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, DC-based think tank, said Friday that Moscow’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is part of a long-standing effort to “consolidate Russia’s de facto military control over Belarus” but is unlikely to herald a Russian one Escalation.
The #Kremlin claims #Russia has started transferring tactical nuclear warheads (under Russian control). #Belarus, in line with previously announced plans. https://t.co/ywHzDwCVUp https://t.co/Ls7uq84PZt
— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) June 17, 2023
“You can’t fight like that for long”
The Russian leader struck a defiant tone regarding his war in Ukraine, saying that Kiev’s counter-offensive against Russian forces has not had any significant success so far, and Ukrainian forces are suffering heavy losses and will soon run out of their own military equipment , making them entirely dependent on hardware supplied by the West.
“There’s nothing left. Everything they fight against and use is brought in from the outside. “Well, you can’t fight like that for long,” he said.
Focusing on Western-supplied armaments such as German-made Leopard tanks, Putin said these were regularly destroyed by his forces and if Kiev acquired F-16 fighter jets made by its US allies, those would also go up in flames . He also appeared to imply that Russia would target such warplanes in locations outside of Ukraine.
“If they are deployed outside of Ukraine and used in combat operations, then we need to think about how and where to use these assets that will be used against us in combat operations,” he said.
Targeting F-16 aircraft outside of Ukraine poses “a serious risk” of further drawing NATO into the conflict, he added.
Later Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that every meter of Ukrainian territory retaken by Russian forces was “of paramount importance” during the current counteroffensive.
“Every soldier, every new step we take, every meter of Ukrainian land liberated from the enemy is of the utmost importance,” Zelenskyy said in his late-night video address after a meeting with senior military commanders.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar previously said that troops along the frontline were “taking active steps to advance in multiple directions at once.” and to the south the troops had advanced up to 2 km (1.3 mi) “in every direction”.
Maliar said Russian forces in eastern Ukraine were trying to push Ukrainian forces away from established positions, while around the devastated city of Bakhmut Ukrainian forces were trying to push Russian forces out of the city’s outskirts.