A new escalation, as Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops reach the milestone of 1,000 days of war against the Russian invader.
The Ukrainian army struck the Russian region of Bryansk with American long-range ATACMS missiles on the night of Monday to Tuesday. Provoking the anger of Moscow, which promised a response “appropriate” and raised the nuclear threat.
Vladimir Putin signed the decree on Tuesday expanding his possibilities of using nuclear weapons, a response to the authorization given by the United States to kyiv to strike Russian soil in this way with its long-range missiles.
The Russian president thus shows his ” weakness”, estimates General Dominique Trinquand, author of What Expects Us (Robert-Laffont). But this is not a surprise and it will not change the nuclear posture of the United States, says Washington.
“We could have expected such a reaction from the Kremlin”underlines Carole Grimaud, author of the book “Students facing the Russian war in Ukraine, perception and interpretation of information” (L’Harmattan).
“Lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons is also a warning from the West, particularly from France and the United Kingdom, who have not yet decided on the use of Scalp/Storm shadow to strike the Russia”explains the Montpellier academic, founder of the Center for Russia and Eastern Europe research in Geneva.
“One more notch”
“If the American administration took the decision to authorize the ATACMS missiles, the Kremlin’s reaction was certainly expected and considered as another notch in Russian deterrence that Westerners are up to assuming”she nuances.
This decree from Putin “is a new demonstration of the irresponsible rhetoric that Russia has demonstrated for two years”denounces the White House, through a spokesperson for the National Security Council.
“This is not the first time that [les Russes] are raising the threat of nuclear escalation, which is completely irresponsible.”adds the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell. Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, points out the lack of reaction from the G20 leaders.
Macron calls Pourtine “to reason”
Emmanuel Macron then denounced, in the evening, a posture “escalatory” of Russia and calls Putin “to reason”.
The master of the Kremlin had already warned, at the end of September, that his country could now use nuclear weapons in the event of “massive launch” air attacks against Russia.
But also that any assault carried out by a non-nuclear country supported, like Ukraine, by a power with atomic weapons, could be considered as aggression “spouse”, which may require the use of nuclear weapons.
kyiv defied this threat, targeting, at dawn, a large munitions warehouse near the town of Karatchev, about 110 km from the border with Ukraine.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, cited by Russian news agencies, five missiles were intercepted, the sixth was damaged. Debris from one of the projectiles fell on a military installation, causing a fire, Moscow added, without reporting any other damage or casualties.
1,000 days of war
In another sign of escalation, Russian state media announced the start of mass production of modular shelters, in the shape of a container, intended to offer protection for 48 hours against atomic radiation, explosions, falling debris, hazardous chemicals and fires.
Russian forces continued, at the same time, their attacks against Ukraine during the night from Monday to Tuesday.
One of them, carried out using a drone, cost the lives of eight people, including a child, in Hloukhiv, in the Sumy region, in the northeast of the country.
“Vladimir Putin will not stop himself”, warned Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday during an intervention before the European Parliament, calling on his allies to maintain their aid after 1,000 days of war.
These words from Zelensky that still resonate
Ukraine crosses this symbolic threshold with exhausted soldiers, still trying to resist the Russian invader on several fronts and the fear of a weakening of American support with the return of Donald Trump to the White House on January 20.
To mark these 1,000 days, the Ukrainian President released a video on social media on Tuesday recalling his words announcing the Russian offensive on February 24, 2022: “Don’t panic, we are strong, we are ready for anything, we will defeat (them) all.”
Since then, Ukraine is still standing, but no family seems to have been spared by the war across the country, where civilians still live to the rhythm of sleepless nights and mortuary ceremonies, looking towards an uncertain tomorrow.
