Russia has enough conventional weapons to obliterate Ukraine’s capital Kiev, says Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian Security Council.
But this is refuted by Joakim Paasikivi, former lieutenant colonel.
– There is no substance to the threats. Russia has no hidden resources to deploy, apart from nuclear weapons.
Earlier this week, Putin went out and warned NATO about what could happen if long-range weapons are given to Ukraine.
Now Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian Security Council, has also issued a statement. On Telegram, he announces that Russia can use “new weapons technology” that would turn Kiev into a “big melted spot”. He also writes that Russia already has formal reasons to use nuclear weapons, after Ukraine’s offensive in Russian Kursk, but that this is not necessary.
But Medvedev’s threat is not something that Joakim Paasikivi, former lieutenant colonel, attaches too much importance to.
– He has a considerable entertainment value more than any other value. His role during the war has been to come up with the crudest accusations, the most incomprehensible threats. If it’s not nuclear weapons, it’s something else.
Paasikivi: “There is no substance in the threats”
According to Paasikivi, Russia is already putting all its resources into the war and has no extra gear to put in, apart from the irreversible one: nuclear weapons.
– There is no substance in the threats. Russia has no hidden resources to deploy, apart from nuclear weapons. Otherwise, you have used everything you have. The reason why you don’t fly in over Kiev is that you would then be shot down. The only Russian option to hit the cities are cruise robots and drones. To remotely use the weapons that Russia used during the war.
Scare propaganda
The risk that Russia would wipe out all of Kiev is small, says Paasikivi.
– If you don’t deploy nuclear weapons, it is extremely small. We have seen the effect of the Russian weapons, they can be devastating to a neighborhood. But Kyiv is a city of three million.
Russia has previously tried to wipe out cities that were far, far smaller than Kiev, and it has taken both time and effort.
– It takes months and you bomb everything you can.
Instead, Paasikivi sees Medvedev’s statement as a form of scaremongering.
– But no one is scared.