2023-07-14 03:36:00
Biden and Putin maintain their diametrically opposed positions on the armed conflict. AFP photo
US President Joe Biden said Thursday that he does not see a “real possibility” of Russia using nuclear weapons, after warnings from the Kremlin that it might send F-16 fighter jets to Kiev and little before the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, warned that Ukraine’s entry into NATO “would cause additional tensions in the world”
“I don’t think there is a real possibility that Putin would use the nuclear weapon. Not only the West, but also China and the rest of the world said: ‘don’t go into that territory,'” Biden declared. at a press conference in Helsinki with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto, after participating in the NATO summit in Lithuania.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, warned that the F-16s that Western countries could send to Ukraine, after the United States approved their transfer, are considered a “nuclear threat” by Moscow because they have the capacity to carry atomic weapons.
“We will consider the fact that the Ukrainian armed forces have such systems as a threat from the West in the nuclear sphere,” the minister declared in an interview broadcast with the Russian online newspaper Lenta.
Russia considered the shipment of US F-16 aircraft to Ukraine a “nuclear threat”. Photo: AFP
“Russia cannot ignore the ability of these devices to transport nuclear charges,” said the head of Russian diplomacy, who said that Moscow warned the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
Besides, Biden said that Putin “already lost the war” in Ukraine and considered that the president will not be able to sustain the conflict for years due to lack of resources.
“There is no chance that I will win the war in Ukraine,” assured.
Cluster bombs sent by other countries are already in Ukraine, according to the US
The cluster bombs promised by the United States and other countries to Ukraine have already been received by the kyiv government, the Pentagon reported Thursday.
“There are cluster munitions in Ukraine right now,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims told a news conference.
In addition, he assured that kyiv received these ammunitions from third countries before the United States delivered its part, according to the Sputnik news agency.
However, he did not clarify whether Ukrainian troops had already used them.
Last week, US President Joe Biden said Washington would supply Ukraine with cluster bombs on a temporary basis while the US industrial base produces more 155-millimeter artillery shells.
The Democratic president explained that he had consulted his decision with Washington’s allies and partners and that they had understood the reason.
The cluster bomb, also known as “cluster”, dispersion or fragmentation, is a weapon that can be launched in free fall by aircraft, artillery and missiles.
It contains a device that opens in midair and releases hundreds of small mini-bombs that are scattered within a radius of up to 400 meters, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The United States sees these weapons as a way to provide kyiv with urgently needed ammunition to bolster its offensive and break through the Russian front lines.
US leaders debated this issue for months before Biden made his decision.
“Joe Biden shouldn’t be dragging us further into World War 3 by sending cluster munitions to Ukraine – he should be trying to end the war and stop the horrible death and destruction that an incompetent administration is causing,” said former President Donald Trump.
For their part, human rights organizations criticized Biden’s decision, noting that at least 149 civilians were killed or injured worldwide by these types of weapons in 2021, according to the organization Cluster Munition Monitor, according to the British newspaper The Guardian.
Biden described the decision to supply the shells as “very difficult”, citing his record of killing civilians.
More than 120 countries – but not the United States, Russia or Ukraine – have signed an international convention banning the production of cluster munitions and advising against their use.
Both Moscow and kyiv used such munitions during the war, and Ukrainian regional officials regularly accused Russian forces of using them against civilians.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Biden for US military aid yesterday, saying shipments of the controversial cluster munitions will contribute to Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
Both met during the summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) held in Lithuania, in which Western countries pledged to supply arms and ammunition to fight against the Russian invasion.
Meanwhile, Russia warned today that “the possible use of cluster bombs in the conflict changes the situation and, of course, forces Russia to take certain countermeasures.”
The warnings, made by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, came after the summit in Lithuania.
At the same time, he considered that the Ukrainian counteroffensive to recover territories conquered by Russia should lead to negotiations to end the conflict.
“My hope and expectation is that Ukraine will make significant progress in its offensive and that this will lead to a negotiated solution at some point,” he said. stated.
Shortly after, Putin downplayed the impact Western military assistance to Ukraine is having on the ground.
Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister. Photo: AFP
Western missiles “cause damage, but nothing critical is happening in the combat zones where they have been used. The same is true of foreign-made tanks.”he said in an interview on state television.
On the other hand, he stated that the Ukraine’s eventual accession to NATO “will make the world more vulnerable and cause additional tensions on the international scene”in his first reaction to what was discussed this week by the leaders of the military alliance at the Lithuanian summit.
“As for Ukraine’s membership in NATO, we have repeatedly discussed it, this creates threats to Russia’s security,” the president told state television and recalled that this possible accession was one of the reasons given when he launched the large-scale invasion in February of last year.
“Therefore, I do not see anything good in it,” said the president in response to what was decided at the NATO summit in Lithuania, where Ukraine received support to join the alliance, but without a concrete roadmap.
Fighting continues in eastern Europe. Photo: File
Also, on that date the leaders of the G7 (which brings together the richest countries on the planet) met with the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, and announced a long-term military support plan that includes the delivery of war equipment.
This does not include assistance provided bilaterally by the countries, such as the controversial cluster bombs sent by the United States that began arriving in Ukraine today, according to a general from the country that has resisted the Russian invasion for more than 500 days.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that the use of such weapons, which scatter submunitions over vast terrain, would force Russia to “take certain countermeasures.” which will be decided by their armed forces.
After the end of the NATO summit, Russia launched a series of airstrikes against Ukraine, which claimed to have destroyed 20 explosive drones and two Russian cruise missiles.
The overnight shelling left at least four people injured in kyiv, according to authorities.
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