UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said that Russian president Vladimir Putin is trying to distract the world by placing his nuclear forces on a special alert.
Wallace [pictured] suggested that heavy Ukrainian resistance and lack of progress in Russia’s military campaign is leading to frustration in Moscow, and that Putin had made the move to divert attention from “what’s going wrong in Ukraine”.
He added that Putin was locked in a “battle of rhetoric” and sought to “remind the world” of the arsenal of nuclear deterrents at his disposal.
Wallace said: “We don't see or recognise in the sort of phrase or the status he described as anything that is a change to what they have currently as their nuclear posture. This is predominantly about Putin putting it on the table just to remind people, remind the world, that he has a deterrent.
Reminding the public of the UK’s own status as a nuclear power, Wallace added: “President Putin will know that anything involving a nuclear weapon has an equal or greater response from the West. It does keep us safe and that's why I would say to parents up and down this country we will not do anything to escalate in that area.
“We will not do anything to feed any miscalculation. We take it very, very seriously.”
The Russian leader said that he made the move to place his nuclear arms personnel on alert in response to Western and NATO aggression, but the announcement does not indicate that Russia has any intention to use its nuclear arsenal.
However, the alert has drawn condemnation from other countries, with the US calling it “unacceptable escalation” of the situation in Ukraine.
Following the alert, the EU announced that a new wave of sanctions would come against Russia, barring all Russian aircraft from EU airspace and excluding Sputnik and Russia Today, two of the country’s state media outlets, from operating in the bloc.
Meanwhile, Wallace predicted that Russia would continue its campaign on the ground in Ukraine in a “more violent” manner after several days of frustration and sustaining “significant casualties”, adding that Ukrainian cities could be “indiscriminately” bombed by Putin’s forces.
The Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and major hubs Kharkiv and Chernihiv were assaulted overnight by Russian soldiers but remain in Ukrainian hands.
The UK Ministry of Defence has said that as of Monday morning, the fifth day of the invasion, “the bulk” of Russian forces were situated around 19 miles north of Kyiv after being “slowed” by Ukrainian resistance and “logistical failures”.
As Russia advances in the south and has taken control of the port town of Berdyansk, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned of a “crucial” 24 hours.
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are meeting on the Ukrainian border with Belarus for peace talks, but a solution acceptable for both sides is not expected. The UN General Assembly is also set to meet later on Monday to address the ongoing situation.
Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons
