In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday, Dmitry Peskov repeatedly refused to rule out that Russia would think about using nuclear weapons towards what Moscow noticed as an “existential risk.” When requested underneath what situations Putin would use Russia’s nuclear functionality, Peskov replied, “whether it is an existential risk for our nation, then it may be.”
When requested what Putin thought he had achieved in Ukraine up to now, Peskov answered: “Properly, to begin with, not but. He hasn’t achieved but.”
The spokesman additionally claimed that the “particular navy operation” — the Kremlin’s official euphemism for Russia’s invasion in Ukraine — was “occurring strictly in accordance with the plans and the needs that have been established earlier than hand.”
Peskov additionally repeated Putin’s calls for, saying that the “fundamental objectives of the operation” are to “eliminate the navy potential of Ukraine,” to make sure Ukraine is a “impartial nation,” to eliminate “nationalist battalions,” for Ukraine to just accept that Crimea — annexed by Russia in 2014 — is a part of Russia and to just accept that the breakaway statelets of Luhansk and Donetsk “are already impartial states.”
He additionally claimed that Russia has solely attacked navy targets, regardless of quite a few studies of Russian airstrikes towards civilian targets sheltering unusual Ukrainians.
The interview comes as Western intelligence has reported that Russia’s operations have stalled in components of Ukraine.