The mayor of Kyiv dubbed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s use of nuclear arms threats in the Ukraine war a “big bluff.”
What Happened: “If Putin talks about nuclear weapon, it shows a weakness” because his “army isn’t successful in the east or south” of Ukraine, Vitali Klitschko told Bloomberg Television on Thursday.
See Also: Putin’s Invasion Of Ukraine: Drone Strikes To World War III Threats, What You Need To Know
This came days after Putin said he would do everything “to defend the motherland, its sovereignty, and territorial integrity” and warned the West that “it’s not a bluff.” Amid the growing setbacks, he also threatened to use “all weapons systems available to us.”
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thinks otherwise; he had earlier warned that Putin’s threat of nuclear weapons use “could be a reality.” “He wants to scare the whole world. These are the first steps of his nuclear blackmail. I don’t think he’s bluffing,” Zelenskyy said in an interview last month.
Ukraine said its army liberated more than 600 settlements from the Russian occupation in the past month, including 75 in the highly strategic Kherson region. “The area of liberated Ukrainian territories has increased significantly,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.
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