The News
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin issued a stark nuclear warning to Ukraine and Kyiv’s Western allies Wednesday, stating that Russia may use nuclear weapons if it was attacked. Putin added that an attack on Russia using conventional weaponry that was backed by another nuclear power would be considered a joint attack.
The warning seemed aimed directly at the West, as the US and European Union countries have signaled they may soon grant Kyiv’s long-standing request to use Western long-range missiles to target Russia.
SIGNALS
Kyiv’s quest for long-range missiles
Zelenskyy is expected to raise the long-range missile request at his meeting with US President Joe Biden on Thursday. The weapons are ideal for penetrating bunkers and ammunition stores, and with Russia using the same weapons to great effect in Ukraine, Kyiv has described its bar from using them as “akin to making it fight this war with one arm tied behind its back.” The US’ public indecision has already given Moscow an advantage, argued one Russia expert, as Putin has had time to move targets out of missile range, and Iran has already supplied Russia with ballistic missiles — a move the West views as an escalation. It may already be “too little too late,” according to BBC reporters, for the missiles to turn the tide on the two-year conflict.
Putin’s ‘red lines’
Many analysts have said that Putin’s “red lines” — a common term for the point at which he may launch a nuclear war — are “growing less credible” the more often the Russian president fails to live up to his threats. Moscow’s increasingly violent rhetoric, such as a Kremlin official warning that Kyiv would be turned into a “molten grey mass” last week, has had little effect on Western decision-making, with most states willing to go ahead with incremental escalation, according to the Financial Times. However, one expert did warn that there is a risk that the West will “overlearn” from pushing Putin, and the Russian president may escalate on other fronts, as seen in Moscow’s decision to arm Iran-backed Houthis in the Middle East.