Ukraine's military chief says 'limited' nuclear war with Russia can't be ruled out
Warning it could raise the prospect of World War 3
Ukraine's military chief says 'limited' nuclear war with Russia can't be ruled out, warning it could raise the prospect of World War 3
Jake Epstein, John Haltiwanger
Wed, September 7, 2022, 11:30 AM·3 min read
Ukrainian military officials said a "limited" nuclear war with Russia can't be ruled out.
In an op-ed, they wrote that a nuclear conflict raises the possibility of World War III.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has shown it "neglects" the concept of global nuclear security, the officials wrote.
Ukraine's top military officials warned on Wednesday that that a "limited" nuclear war with Russia — which could potentially trigger World War III — can't be ruled out as fighting continues.
Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and Lt. Gen. Mykhailo Zabrodskyi, who serves as the first deputy chair of the Ukrainian parliament's national security, defense, and intelligence committee, shared their thoughts on the six-month-long conflict in an op-ed published by the country's state news agency Ukrinform.
The duo wrote that one factor worth considering in Russia's approach to the war is the underlying threat of tactical nuclear weapons usage, arguing that Russia's unprovoked invasion has shown that it "neglects" the concept of global nuclear security, as has been demonstrated by its actions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and around Chernobyl.
"It is hard to imagine that even nuclear strikes will allow Russia to break Ukraine's will to resist," Zaluzhnyi and Zabrodskyi wrote. "But the threat that will emerge for the whole of Europe cannot be ignored."
They cautioned that the "possibility of direct involvement of the world's leading powers in a 'limited' nuclear conflict, bringing closer the prospect of World War 3, cannot be completely ruled out either."
The two officials said the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons means Russia would no longer be a threat to just Ukraine and a handful of European countries, but it would become a "global-scale terrorist state."
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