Zelensky backpedals: Putin got what he wanted

To ask for nuclear weapons or not to ask for nuclear weapons? This is the question that everyone was asking after the recent (rather ambiguous) Ukrainian president’s statements.

On October 21, Monday, Volodymyr Zelensky assured that Ukraine wasn’t asking for help from its Western allies in order to obtain nuclear weapons and therefore prevail over the Russians.

“We’re not asking for nuclear weapons to be given to us,” he assured the press. Last week, the Ukrainian leader made some innuendos about obtaining nuclear weapons if his country couldn’t join NATO. “Either Ukraine has nuclear weapons, which will serve as its protection, or it must be part of some kind of alliance,” Zelensky said last Thursday. Before adding that, in his opinion, there was no alliance more effective than NATO.

These statements didn’t please Vladimir Putin at all (although he’s also inclined to raise the nuclear threat) and also described them as a “dangerous provocation”. The Russian head of state clarified: “I can say right away that Russia will not allow this to happen under any circumstances”.

Is Zelensky afraid of an escalation? On Monday, Zelensky reminded people that his victory plan included the use of non-nuclear deterrents on his territory, specifies L’Express.

(MH with Manon Pierre – Source: L’Express – Picture: Picture by President of Ukraine from ykpaiha licensed under CC0 via Wikimedia Commons)