What way out for Putin?
– The successes of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the southeast are a source of satisfaction for Biden, but also some concern. “We’re trying to understand what Putin’s way out could look like,” said the US President. He added that the Russian “is not kidding when he talks about the possible use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons because his army is in trouble.”
Nuclear Armageddon
– And the situation is so serious that “we haven’t faced the threat of nuclear Armageddon since Kennedy’s time”: the 13 days of 1962 when Jfk and Nikita Khrushchev challenged each other on Soviet missiles in Cuba, bordered on nuclear war. Biden’s dramatic tones surprised several American officials, according to CNN, but was the alarm signal being heard within the government.
Towards an uncontrollable escalation
– The White House itself, which clarified that it “has no indication that Russia is preparing to use the nuclear weapon”, warned against “Putin’s irresponsible rhetoric” which “poses the risk of an uncontrollable escalation”. From this point of view, Zelensky has no doubts. Putin and his people, he denounced in an interview with the BBC, are beginning to prepare Russian society for a possible nuclear attack: “I don’t know if they will, but I think it’s dangerous to even think about it.” to speak.” .
For Putin, the special operation was the right choice
– In the Kremlin, however, on the day of the 70th birthday of the tsar, the emphasis is on the Ukrainian leader’s controversial intervention in an Australian think tank, in which he allegedly raised the need to prevent pre-emptive NATO attacks on Russian soil and the use of the atomic bomb. Zelenskyy later clarified that his reasoning had been misinterpreted, but that was enough for the Kremlin to confirm that Putin’s decision to “launch the special operation” was correct.
EU training mission to Ukraine
– While Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Kyiv of “possible use of weapons of mass destruction”. The Ukrainian President also mentioned the “nuclear catastrophe” while addressing European leaders gathered in Prague “due to the capture of the Zaporizhia power plant by Russian troops” who had also attacked the city with Iranian kamikaze drones. Europe responded by reaffirming its support for Kyiv and giving the green light to an EU training mission to Ukraine, which Moscow regards as fog and mirrors, while Emmanuel Macron announced “a special fund of 100 million that will allow Kyiv to buy war material directly to buy our industrialists”. The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, instead called for the immediate dispatch of “heavy weapons and tanks” to the Ukrainians.
Work is underway on new negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv
– The only faint sign of de-escalation in this period of very high tensions is that for several days the beginning of new negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv has returned. The US, Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured, was “ready” to resolve the war through diplomacy if Moscow showed it was “seriously willing” to go that route. Meanwhile, Recep Tayyp Erdogan called the Tsar again, to whom he explained that “Turkey is ready to help find a peaceful solution.” Thanks for his “mediation” efforts, which have already played a crucial role in solving the wheat crisis.